Well, my husband got sick in October 2009 after paying into the insurance program he has through work for over 20 years. This was the first time he had ever needed to use it. He stayed sick until April of 2010, had three hospitalizations, three operations, and numerous outpatient procedures. Supposedly the plan is NOT a high deductible plan, but he has 80/20 after the $600 deductible with a $12,000 out of pocket limit. So by April we had two maximum out of pocket limits.

He lost almost six months of work and we had to sell off much of what we own just to pay our bills. We had 90 days to pay in full and then all the bills were sold to debt collectors, even though we were paying on all of them--a little each month. It wasn't much because there over 50 separate bills, but we were trying.

This year we filed for bankruptcy because our monthly medical bills from that illness are higher than our combined incomes. The debt collectors added thousands in fees and interest, garnished his wages, and called day and night.

The health care system in the U.S. is brutal. Health insurance is fine so long as you never get really sick. Meanwhile INSURED people who can't pay immediately are forced to default or go bankrupt. This makes costs rise faster and faster. For instance, five years ago a GP visit cost $80 (for about 5 minutes). Now it's up to $130. In only five years. And it keeps getting worse.

Common sense will tell you this can't go on.

They keep talking like insuring everyone will fix the problem. It won't. Insurance IS the problem. We have 'good' health insurance. And look what happened. And we are by no means unusual.