I am a new resident to North Carolina and I am concerned about the Health Care for the lower income in this State and the Educational options for the lower income to get an Education that is progressive to the future of technology and the Country as a whole.

The entire country is affected by too many cowardly and/or "Republican Lite" Democratic leaders in congress. We need a new party that will support progressive Democrats and work against the others. Harry Reid's hypocritical failure to move forward on filibuster reform, along with a number of other Senate "Democrats", is all the evidence we need to demonstrate the need.

There are about 300,000 Mississippians who are uninsured because they can't afford to pay for insurance and they aren't eligible for medicaid. It is immoral to keep these people from medical care when it can be made available to them. Besides it would bring into this state hundreds of millions of dollars and create thousands of jobs.

Ankylosing Spondylitis(A.S.) is an auto-immune arthritis that affects 1.7 million people in the United States of America and over 33 million people in the world. This disease needs to be better understood by the government, healthcare professionals and general public. There is currently not a cure for A.S., but through more government funded research studies and education, the people who it affects and their families can enjoy more comfortable lives. Please visit www.helgiolafson.org to contact the leader of this petition. The Helgi Olafson Foundation is a non profit organization. My name is Helgi Olafson and I have Ankylosing Spondylitis. I am a health activist, educating and inspiring people around the world to live healthier lives and take control of this disease through my involvement in endurance sports.

A lot of senior citizens have little or no health insurance, going with the federal government will make it easier for all senior citizens.

Free Dental care for Vets

I was a Workers Compensation Claims Examiner for many years. Now I am an injured worker. I have seen both sides of the system. The system has been skewed in favor of Insurance Carriers. People with settlements entitling them to future medical benefits are being denied for no other reason than the carrier can get away with it. In these situations, the injured workers' attorney has already been paid. There are no longer penalties to keep Insurers in line, and no reason for the attorney to do anything. They don't work for free. The "penalty" system in place now does not discourage Insurance Carriers from playing games with benefits people are entitled to. My adjuster illegally stopped payment of awarded permanent disability benefits. The big penalty for creating havoc in my life: $37.00. The Insurers have total medical control. That means any doctor who still will treat an injured worker is more interested in keeping the Insurer happy than he is about taking care of the injured worker. This year a majority of my medical benefits will be taken away by a game called "utilization review". Instead of reviewing my medical history to determine if a benefit is necessary, my Insurer will send a few pages of records, along with their viewpoint, to what we use to call a "doc in a box". That's a doctor whose going to tell you what, as an Insurer, you want to hear. If these doctors authorize treatment and benefits, do you think the Carrier is going to continue using them? My carrier has gone through 3 Utilization Review companies in the last year! The Insurance Industry had managed to cut benefits, take complete control of medical treatment, kick attorneys out of the system...and there's no one to stop them. I began as an Examiner in 1992. Workers Comp laws had just been changed to protect the injured worker. We called the older cases "starve and settle", because that's what happened. The examiner would stop benefits and wait until the injured worker was in such financial straits that they'd settle for nothing. I have problems getting medical treatment I'm legally entitled to and there's not much I can do. It's time to stop this!

Childhood obesity and the rampant spread of diet related diseases to our nations young people should be the number one concern in America today. We must take a stand to save the next generation. This dietary change could serve to reduce the cost to the public for completely preventable diet related diseases.

The federal government has been using their drug laws to supercede state law.The citizens of many states have voted to make medical marijuana legal and yet the feds are confiscating medicine ,seizing everything with their abuse of the civil asset forfeiture law and even jailing people who can not afford the expensive lawyers to defend themselves.Enough is enough,its time for the state to step up and protect its citizens by establishing definite regulations which will protect those involved with the growing ,transfer and distribution of medical marijuana.

We need state-run healthcare systems.

The Sandy Hook shooting stirred a discussion about mental health care. I have been a social worker for 13 years. I have worked in agencies over the years with clients facing serious life challenges such as trauma history, intellectual or physical disabilities, poverty, and mental illness. In some settings, the work can be rewarding but high stress, and the funding is low. We need to keep turnover low for people working in social service agencies. This is how we can value the people for whom social workers and social service agencies are providing care.

Restoration of reasonable and appropriate third-party payments for out-of-network services is essential to the economic, psychological and physical well-being of many NYS consumers, and to the adequate provision of important healthcare services by numerous providers, such as physicians, psychologists, social workers, nurse-practitioners and physical therapists.