20,000 Voices from America's Healthcare Crisis

"I was turned away from an emergency room in San Francisco after the ER doc told me to go home and drink Pepto-Bismol for my increasingly painful abdominal cramps," said Randy from California in his comments for the 2008 Health Care for America Survey. "I did not have insurance. I passed out on the street six hours later, and an ambulance took me to a different ER where they did emergency surgery and removed a gangrenous appendix. I was charged $38,000 for the surgery, a week in the hospital and ambulance service. I have declared bankruptcy." Randy and 18,000 people have taken the survey since its launch in January and the AFL-CIO is pushing to reach a goal of 20,000 "voices telling America about their health care experiences" by Monday. The compiled survey results will be given to the presidential and congressional candidates, US senators and representatives, and state and local officials in every state in the country. Click here to take the survey or read other personal stories.