In December, Steve Skvara of Union Township was hospitalized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital for 28 hours in hopes of a clean bill of health. He emerged with a bill for $96,000.
It was pleasant, he said, to have a waiter in a tux deliver his meal, but was that really necessary?
His experience is relevant because it was Skvara who lighted the fuse on the health care debate in which the nation is now embroiled.
It was on Aug. 7, 2007, that Skvara asked the seven Democratic presidential candidates what they would do to get health care to "the woman I love." Skvara explained that he lost much of his pension when LTV collapsed, and he was forced to sit across from his wife at the kitchen table, knowing he couldn't afford her health care.
So how does he feel now?
"Somewhat disappointed, to be honest," he told me Thursday.
"We were all hoping for a public option, because let's face it, without a public option there's nothing to keep the insurance companies in line."
Skvara campaigned for John Edwards in Iowa and liked what Edwards said about health care: Give me a health care mandate for July, or I'll take away health care coverage for all federal employees.
Skvara also liked Obama's words during the campaign, that he wanted a public option. That option seems to be a remote possibility now.
"I'm disappointed, but I realize what he's up against. He's trying to work with the Republicans, but they're not willing to work with him," Skvara said.
"These aren't the Eisenhower era Republicans. ... Now they're just so radical, it's pitiful," he said. "The Republicans, they don't want to do anything because they're afraid it will make Obama look like a success."
Health care is Skvara's biggest issue, but he's not alone. Insurance companies are spending hundreds of millions to defeat this legislation. Curiously, they're saying that regardless of what happens, rates will go up.
The brick wall Skvara is hitting with this issue is trying to get people who are haves to provide for the have-nots.
"People who have their health care could care less about those who don't."
He told of asking a Senate aide how much that aide's insurance premium cost; it was $260 a month out-of-pocket for the couple. Get private insurance, and the cost is about $1,400 for a couple, Skvara said. He guesses the taxpayers are subsidizing that couple's health insurance to the tune of maybe $12,000 a year.
I'd like to see a study that bears this out, but I would be willing to bet health care is a major and rapidly growing expense factor for any level of government.
The escalating health care costs are also eating into personal finances. "That's how people end up putting their hospital bills and doctor bills on credit cards and end up filing bankruptcy."
Average citizens needs to call and write their congressmen and senators, he advised. He has been doing that himself, as well as visiting Washington.
In December, he even was invited to the White House. "I would have liked to have talked to him that time, if I could have cornered him, about that health care bill and all that."
"I didn't get a chance to meet Obama, but I did get a chance to pet the dog," Skvara said.
That's not much of a consolation prize for someone so eager for reform.
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Editorial Page Editor Doug Ross can be reached at (219) 548-4360 or (219) 933-3357 or Doug.Ross@nwi.com. The opinion expressed in this column is the writer's and not necessarily that of The Times.
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