Yesterday, SEIU visited with attendees of a day-long free clinic in Hartford, Connecticut. The free clinic attracted thousands of people seeking medical treatment, dentist check-ups, life-saving medicine and H1N1 shots. Below are a few of their stories:

In the past year, while members of Congress have debated and re-debated, drafted and re-drafted (and don't forget, threatened to filibuster) health insurance reform,America's health care crisis has only worsened. Health care spending rose to account for 17.3% of the entire U.S. economy in 2009. The LA Times reports:

The almost $2.5 trillion spent in 2009 was $134 billion more than the previous year, when healthcare consumed 16.2% of the gross domestic product, according to an annual report by independent actuaries at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, scheduled for release Thursday.

These frightening numbers only tell part of the story. To understand the whole story, you've got to meet the ordinary, working Americans who've been hit hard by a double-whammy: a broken health care system and the tanking U.S. economy. From the LA Times:

CMS officials noted that healthcare spending has been increasing even as the number of Americans without health insurance is growing, another sign of problems with the system.

"With higher unemployment, people lose their jobs [and] many of them lose their healthcare coverage in the process. And under current law, they don't have much to fall back on," said Richard S. Foster, chief actuary.

Joe Kitchens, an attendee of yesterday's free clinic in Hartford, described how the poor job market (read: heavier reliance on part-time employment) impacts workers' access to affordable health insurance.