Health Insurance - It doesn't have to be this hard

The insurance companies want folks they don't really have to insure. Nothing new there ... well, it wasn't until I had to deal with that fact head-on (and after dealing with it, needed Head-On despite their annoying commercials). I have three little medical problems shared by millions upon millions of people, and mine are completely in check using the least medication you can take (okay, it's blood pressure, cholesterol and sleep apnea). My blood pressure is outstanding and my blood tests (annual physicals, mind you) always come back with super-duper numbers. What's this got to do with anything?
     Here's what: Been trying to get health insurance for my family and was turned down flat by one company and am under close scrutiny under the other who was my insurer at my job (don't they know my history yet?). I left my job last year and am trying to take advantage of COBRA, but they're treating it like I was a totally new customer and that they're not sure I'm entitled to coverage. It's absurd! I won't need a haircut or a shave for awhile due to jumping through flaming hoops for the insurance companies. I can't imagine what a person with substantial health issues is dealing with - it boggles the mind.
     You want coverage? Go to Mexico or Canada for checkups and routine problems, then you are less likely to run into any problems here because, when you apply, you'll have very little negative history. ("Oh, sir, I see you had a sore throat last year. That might jeopardize your coverage.") Oh, and get a year's prescriptions while you're there and you'll save huge over what we pay here. Got a problem here in the U.S.? Go to a doc-in-the-box and pay cash. No, really, it's like you have to hide the tiny maladies that we all encounter in life (especially as we get older), else they add up all the little things and get a risk number that is way overblown in proportion to the real risk. Oh, and tell them this is unfair and you're branded a trouble maker. My insurance agent was blown away that they turned me down, yet they responded like I was crazy for questioning them and thinking I was entitled to coverage.
     I realize that the insurance companies have to make a profit, that this is a free enterprise system, that market pressures dictate policy, blah, blah, blah, BLAH!! I'm sick of it. Anyone who thinks we don't need health care reform is nuts. Seeing the doctor is fast becoming a privilege for the rich and the rest of us can just, well, put a band-aid on that hematoma and shut up until the doctor at the public health clinic can, in his or her overworked stupor, give us a modicum of care (and God bless the public health doctors).
     Now that I've identified the tip of the iceberg, I'm getting in a lifeboat and making an orderly exit from this healthcare Titanic. Basically, we're all sunk unless we find a new course. WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN!!!