Do you have insurance?

How much do you make a year?

Do you have pay stubs with you today?

Within half an hour of opening its doors, the clinic is full.

In fact, many of them are here on this early spring morning precisely because they don’t.

The clinic’s visitors probably aren’t who you would expect.

Eighty-five percent come from working families, and surprising numbers are middle-class.

More than half are women.

That translates to a remarkable 12.9 million uninsured women between ages 19 and 54.

Politicians often talk about America’s health system train wreck.

As it turns out, the doctor suggested I have a needle aspiration to remove cysts in my breasts.

“I work at a fitness center here in Marin, but they don’t subsidize the health plan.

Right now I’m raising two kids by myself and bringing in $2,400 a month.

“My kids and I are happy but struggling right now.

Weirdly, we’ve become close through the financial strain.

The truth is, I would rather have Little League for the kids than have health insurance for myself.

You have to do that kind of thing when you’re a parent.”

But then I remembered how expensive visits to the emergency room can be, so I didn’t go.

It took weeks before I made this appointment at the clinic.

Ironically, paying for it has become one more thing adding to my stress.”

Juana Lopez, 21, stay-at-home mother"I’m the only one in my family without insurance.

So I haven’t gone in more than a year.

For now, I focus on getting Jennifer taken care of.

She’s 18 months old and was recently hospitalized for dehydration.

Of course we worry, but I’m young and healthy now."

“We were in New York on September 11, and it just wore on me.

I’ve been severely depressed, and it’s so frustrating to have nowhere to turn for help.

It’s been hell.

I was prescribed antidepressants, but it’s been a struggle to pay for them.

Meanwhile, I never go to a gynecologist.

And my teeth are literally falling out of my head.”

“I think we need universal health care in this country.

We need to get our priorities straight.

I’m a humanist: I believe in taking care of people.

There’s a misperception that people in the clinics are uneducated, that they don’t have a say.

It’s like we’re a lower caste or something.

It takes away your humanity and your energy.

Actually, I just feel incredibly pissed off.”

I have a real estate license, and I’ve gone back to school full time to study economics.

But I cannot get a job to save my life.

I’ve started working nights at a restaurant for minimum wage: $6.75 plus tips."

The Marin clinic doesn’t have an X-ray machine, so they sent me to the emergency room.

My long-term goal is to get a job with benefits."

But we can’t afford the premium for the health plan at the bank where I work, either.

Right after his birth, I went to the emergency room with stomach ulcers.

I was in a lot of pain, and it was getting worse and worse.

The doctors saw me, did an X-ray and told me to go home, that I was fine.

Then I got a bill for $2,000.

We’re trying to pay it off, but now it’s gone to a collection agency.

I don’t know what we’ll do."

Naturally, policy-makers want to confront the problem.

So why not mandate health insurance as we do for cars?

That’s the plan favored by Senator John Breaux (D-La.

), who supports tax credits to help individuals afford it.

Coverage for allOne of the most ambitious proposals comes from Representative Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.

), a candidate for president.

Employers would have to offer insurance, but the feds would pay for 60 percent of the cost.

Don’t take risks with your health.

Consider some of these stopgap ways to get covered:

Photo Credit: Brian Hagiwara