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In search of a solution

For now, the family falls through what appears to be a comfortable crack, they say. They aren't holding their breath waiting for government help. Wes spends hours at websites, plugging in income numbers, family demographics and preferences for the kind of care he might anticipate his family needing. "You punch in what's important to you," he says. "I've done that, and the number comes back $900 a month. That wouldn't fit."

What he's looking for is more than just catastrophic coverage, which takes care of tragic illnesses or accidents. The family already knows that the high deductibles in such plans mean they end up paying for all routine visits to pediatricians and run-of-the-mill childhood illnesses in addition to the premiums. He has not been able to find what he believes the family needs -- coverage of major medical episodes as well as preventive care -- at a price they can afford.

So they go without, and they worry and feel guilty.

Their situation has a few similarities to that of the family of Graeme Frost, a 12-year-old Baltimore boy who delivered the Democratic response to a radio address by President Bush on Sept. 29. The Frosts, earning about $45,000 a year, easily qualified for SCHIP for their four children. Graeme, who along with his sister had suffered brain injuries in a car accident, talked about how much that coverage meant to him and his family. Opponents of an increase in coverage took issue, saying that with a nice house, and an income many would consider middle-class, the Frosts should not expect government help.

But like the Wirkkalas, the Frosts' nice home reflected carpentry skills, not high income. And like the Wirkkalas, the Frosts made a decision that the husband would work for himself rather than a company while the wife would stay home with the children. As American dream-like as they appear, the decisions did not fit with the country's health insurance system.

Already, the Wirkkalas have borrowed from the equity in their home for the $5,000 co-payment, when they still had insurance, for the birth of Vincent. "We've cut out everything. We've cut out cable, canceled magazine subscriptions, redone our auto insurance, cut up our credit cards," Sophia says. "My budget for the week for gas, food, field trips for the kids, is $200. Look in the refrigerator. There's fruit and yogurt. Not much extra there."

Wes Wirkkala works six days a week -- weekdays on job sites and Saturdays on bids. But he's home for breakfast and dinner every day, and for lunch most days. The couple has decided not only that Sophia would stay home with the children but also that Wes would work independently and spend as much time as he can with his family.

They're still shocked to realize that family-focused decisions have cost them access to healthcare. At their sunny kitchen table with a view of the canyon and the ocean in the distance, Sophia Wirkkala ponders their dilemma. "This is America!" she says. "I grew up being told this was the greatest country in the world. I don't think I can put 'the greatest country in the world' and 'children without health insurance' in the same sentence."

susan.brink@latimes.com


And that final sentence summarizes just why this is a losing issue for Republicans. People are at the breaking point already and no amount of ideological debating and spinning can compete with harsh reality facing too too many people. Poor and middle class alike.

Johnathan Alter of Newswek commented the day after THIS remarkable moment occured at the AFL/CIO debate:




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OLBERMANN: I saw that man, Steve Skvara, downstairs this afternoon in front of the NBC bureau here. He has to have a friend deal with the media. I offered him our congratulations and our condolences. And he said it was entirely worth it and he wished the AFL-CIO would do this every month because it put a human face on the conditions in the country right now. That was the moment of the debate, correct?

ALTER: I absolutely agree. I had my nephew and my 16-year-old son with me last night and after that, I turned to them and I said, this is not sports. We tend to look at this as if it‘s a contest, a horserace, you know, boxing match. Yes, on some level that helps makes politics fun to cover and fun for people to watch, but this is about real people‘s lives. And he drove that home.

The importance of what we are talking about—when people say forget politics, who cares about any of this, there are real people out there who are really suffering because of policies that are made in Washington. This was a reminder of it. And I think it was—it will be seen as one of the highlights of the whole campaign season. - Countdown W/ Keith Olbermann Aug. 8



Health care is THE issue facing us today. And compassion and assistance is needed not academic debates about big government or whether or not people make "too much" . People without insurance (and even those WITH insurance TIED to their jobs) don't give a damn about that. All they care is that they or their loved ones can't afford health care.

And Graeme Frost, this family in the article, Steve Skvara, [and as it relates to the Iraq war] individual soldiers, the coffins of dead soldiers etc personify that. This is why the right wing detests these people. They like things in the abstract. Where one can argue ideology and not reality. Once it becomes about REAL people not just statistics, real soldiers, not just "the troops" then they just come off as callous insensitive, monstrous.

And i sincerely hope Wonder Boy can appreciate the family in that articles plight because they made the kinds of choices that he thinks too many people do not. He blames femenism of course but it's about economic reality today. They chose to devote time to family and raising their kids in a traditional way. And sadly, those choices lead to unnecessary hardship. I wish it were NOT the case.