In January, my 24 year old daughter had a very serious, unexpected stroke in NY. She was hospitalized in a local hospital where they were slow to diagnose and where she received no care. When, thanks to personal connections, she was transferred to a better hospital, she began to be treated with an unfortunate wait of over 24 hours. We arrived very quickly, and for the next 4 months, we were caught in a nightmare of insurance difficulties. This is despite the fact that she had a good job with good insurance. She was able to stay in acute rehab only a short period of time, despite her obvious need for more, because of insurance limitations. In the sub acute rehab, we were never clearly told whether she was being covered since the communication was only verbal between the facility and the insurance, and RETROACTIVELY we were told that they were supposedly not paying for 60 days of stay!! In addition, the doctors who saved her life have sent us huge bills that we cannot pay because they were out of network. This is all insane and caused us huge stress over the already enormous stress of this terrible event. When we got back to France as soon as was possible,she was immediately declared to have a major medical problem and thus covered by the government insurance at 100% (rather than the common 70%). She was hospitalized for another month, and is now being treated in a day hospital four days a week, in addition to having private therapy on the other days. All this is completely free. In addition, her transportation to and from the day hospital is provided free. In contrast, she would be completely out of benefits in the US if she had been obligated to stay. This situation of American lack of health care is absolutely inexcusable and needs to change.