Hospital charges are at the root of high health costs. A hospital "Price List" (Charge Master List) is typically 5-6 times their cost. That's what people with insufficient or no insurance are charged. Insurance companies negotiate discounts based on size and how many they insure and typically only pay about 35 - 40% of what the uninsured are charged. The"Charge Master List" typically increases 7.5% automatically every October, regardless of inflation. That means their prices double every 10 years. They also cheat. After a month in a well-known hospital my daughter was charged $268,000. The first time I called the Billing Dept. they told me they could give me a 50% discount(meaning they only made 200% profit). Instead I went into the bill line by line, found much evidence of false charging, and they eventually offered to settle for $17,000. (read this article here and learn real facts about healthcare http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2010/jul/07/cover/) A sister hospital was fined $6.2 million for defrauding Medicare! And look how HCA, largest healthcare company in the US, has been stealing taxpayer $$s. So let's get them to clean up their act, and hand out some jail time, instead of fines.

Over 200 thousand people each year die from adverse drug reactions but the cases are probably higher due to a lack of reporting. My daughter Julie developed Stevens-Johnson Syndrome at the age of 11 months old from a medication to treat pediatric epilepsy. We were not warned about side effects. After starting the medication she developed a high fever and blistering rash. Julie was misdiagnosed with chicken pox and continued on the offending drug. As a result she suffered blistering burns across her body and treated in a burn unit for 27 days. She is now blind in one eye and has low vision in the other, dry eye syndrome, photophobia and many other side effects, and she is one of the lucky ones. Many SJS patients do not survive. We were told it was a 1 in a million reaction and so rare we would never meet another SJS patient. Since 1994 we have heard from thousands of people from around the world that have suffered SJS and TEN (Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis) another form of SJS. It's not as rare as we were led to believe. SJS can be caused by over the counter children's ibuprofen! Something available to us at the grocery story and carries no warning of SJS! SJS is a severe adverse life threatening reaction to medication which causes patients to literally burn from the inside out! No one has an accurate count of SJS because there is NO mandatory reporting system required by medical professionals. Only a voluntary site for patients. A mandatory reporting system will enable the FDA to see which medications have a higher incidence of adverse reactions leading to labeling changes and safety for consumers. Please help us.

Ending the illegal nature of the cannabis plant.

Amend the U.S. constitution to require the U.S. government to provide free universal health care to every legal resident of this country.

Petition the USDA to stop pushing cheap junk food for our public school meals.

We couldn’t make this stuff up if we tried. Congressman Mike Kelly compared the implementation of the Affordable Care Act to Pearl Harbor and September 11. To be fair, the notoriously anti-woman Kelly was speaking specifically about the women’s health component of what he calls “Obamacare.” Kelly objects to the idea of women having access to birth control wherever they work. Here’s what he said: "I know in your mind you can think of times when America was attacked. One is December 7th, that's Pearl Harbor day. The other is September 11th, and that's the day of the terrorist attack. I want you to remember August the 1st, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. That is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other dates." It’s one thing to disagree about public policy. It’s quite different when you equate access to birth control at work to Pearl Harbor or September 11th. It diminishes the value of the lives lost in both of those attacks, and it insults the tens of millions of women who use birth control. Kelly needs to apologize for his outrageous insult to all Americans. This kind of vitriol is not acceptable for an American Member of Congress.

BIG PHARMA HAS THE FDA IN ITS BACK POCKET AND WANTS TO DESTROY THE SUPPLEMENT INDUSTRY IN FAVOR OF PUTTING PEOPLE ON DANGEROUS DRUGS TO CORRECT PHYSICAL PROBLEMS.

Texas health care insurance companies: Implement the Affordable Care Act! The citizens of Texas refuse to wait until January of 2014. We want relief, and we want it now. We have endured suffering long enough and are ashamed of having the worst health care system in the United States. Do the right thing; Implement all provisions of the Affordable Care Act pertaining to the health care insurance industry!

My son could not afford a visit to doctor as he has no employment nor health insurance. He went to the center that he was going to and asked for a prescription for the insulin that he needs to stay alive and was turned down because he didn't come in for an appointment. He came very close to dying on two separate occassions as a result. I propose that Insulin dependent diabetics no longer be required to see a doctor or nurse practicioner if they are unable financially and have no health insurance, but if they are adults, why not be given a card by the diagnosing physician as to what type of insulin they use so that they will be able to just go to the pharmacy and obtain this life saving medication as oppossed to nearly dying as my son did on two separate occassions because of this incident.

Some health plans require that members use a mail-order pharmacy for certain prescriptions - or pay full price. For instance, ours now requires that we use Medco mail-order for our maintenance meds. If we don't, our monthly cost will go from about $50 to nearly $250. That's about $2,400 per year. This is not a Democrat or Republican problem; it affects us all.

The Affordable Health Care Act made some important strides towards improving our so-called health care system, but for many people, particularly those in the lower-middle class, it leaves much to be desired. Currently, state and federal legislators have little "skin in the game" since they're all covered by government-paid health care. I believe that if these legislators had to seek out & pay for their own health insurance, we'd see REAL health care reform almost overnight.

My mother suffers from serious health issues, the only substance that gives her daily relief is making use of cannabis. Let's lift the ban on this natural plant that has helped people for tousands of years. Put and end to prohibition,it does not work , Millions of people like my mother would benefit from this God send