Annette B.

Maryland District 4, 6th Congressional District - David Trone

A friend lost her job and health coverage when she got cancer and was too sick to work. Without income, she lost her housing and custody of her children. After losing healthcare she changed from Republican to Democrat and became a strong believer in Medicare for All.

Kristian B.

Maryland District 18, 8th Congressional District - Jamie Raskin

I visited my girlfriend at her apartment building one Saturday afternoon. I entered the elevator and held the door open for a woman and her two small dogs, which were behaving aggressively. One of her dogs lunged at me and bit me in my right leg, it hurt, and I started to bleed. My girlfriend and I treated the situation as an emergency, and we went to the closest Medstar clinic for immediate treatment because the Veteran's Health Administration hospital, where I typically get treatment, was closed. The Medstar physician cleaned my wound, administered tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (TDAP) shots, and sent me home. Three months later, Medstar mailed me a $480 bill for the treatment and demanded payment as soon as possible. I went to the Veterans' Health Administration for assistance but they denied me because they didn't consider it an emergency. I also tried to contact the dog-owner, but I couldn't reach her. I paid the bill out of pocket; however, the service seemed overpriced and it required several hours of my personal time to resolve it. The process made me feel alienated, frustrated, and disappointed and it put an unnecessary burden on me. A single-payer healthcare system would have helped me because it would have set the treatment price and paid for the bill.

Ingrid F.

Maryland District 16, 8th Congressional District - Andy Harris

One autumn I got a new job. I had been accessing university health services until a couple of months prior, when I left the university. My new insurance would kick in on January 1, and so I was uninsured for a few months. On the morning of December 31, I woke up really sick. I had a very high fever (~104) and difficulty breathing. I called my uncle - a doctor - who said I might have pneumonia and told me go to urgent care immediately. Yet, I was still uninsured on that day, so I had to wait until my insurance kicked in. I spent the whole day in misery, just watching the hours on the clock go by. I made my way to urgent care at midnight, when I should have been in bed sleeping. And I thought about what would have happened if I had gotten sick just days earlier. With a single-payer system, I would not have been uninsured for several months. My ability to access health care would not be tied to my employment status, disrupted by a normal life transition, or subject to arbitrary and unchangeable coverage windows.

James H.

Maryland District 4, 8th Congressional District - Jamie Raskin

When our son was born he wasn't breathing due to the fact that he was early and the Cesarean was performed under general anesthesia. He was taken to the NICU until he was able to breathe on his own. Cigna denied the claim for that initially because the NICU is out of network. It took many calls over the course of almost a year before they finally covered the charges. 

Kaitlin A.

1st Congressional District - Jamie Raskin

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