Disabled Steelworker Steve Skvara: A Lazy, Whining Traitor?

[Hissyspit]

Disabled steelworker Steve Skvara: a lazy, whining traitor?

by MaximusNYC
Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 08:54:17 PM PDT
That's what Newsbusters.org says.

Tremendously exaggerating the number of Americans who lack access to health insurance, CBS on Wednesday night trumpeted the cause of an AFL-CIO member who denounced the United States for not providing health insurance coverage for his wife and endorsed the John Edwards plan for universal health care. ...

Skvara complained that when the steel company he had worked for went bankrupt he lost his promised lifetime health insurance. Not surprisingly, neither Miller nor Matthews raised Skvara's lack of personal responsibility in planning ahead for his own future when he worked in a declining industry, burdened by high health care costs, that many predicted long ago would go out of business.

I really don't know what to say.

UPDATE: In case you haven't seen Skvara -- supporting himself on crutches and holding back tears -- asking his question during Tuesday night's Dem debate, here's the video:

(DU LINK: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x45982)

UPDATE 2: Here's some info on the Skvaras' circumstances, from the Chicago Tribune:

Stephen Skvara, 59, an electrical repairman...retired in 2000 after an auto accident left him with disabling hip and knee injuries. An active volunteer in his community and union, the United Steelworkers rep worked 34 years at LTV's Indiana Harbor Works in East Chicago. ...

Despite chronic health problems he headed into retirement never anticipating financial hardship. Then came two blows that drained his savings and dramatically altered his family's lifestyle.

First, his retirement stipends were cut by one-third, to $12,000 annually, when bankrupt LTV shifted its obligations to the federal agency that guarantees pensions. Then he lost the employer-paid insurance that covered most of his medical costs, including $6,000 worth of prescription drugs a year. Because of his disability he qualified for Medicare and managed to buy a supplemental policy for $300 a month. Yet even with help from a union and industry trust fund that defrays his drug costs, he spends about $5,000 annually on health care--a huge bite from his reduced pension.

"We had the Cadillac of insurance before," he said. "Now I'm driving a Chevy, and the wife doesn't even have a Chevy. We keep sweating it out, hoping nothing happens. That weighs constantly on my mind."

MORE

[SoCalDem]

1. $12k a year is $1k a month MINUS $300 for insurance

and on top of that $5k a year, out-of-pocket expense, is another $416.67 a month..leaving him a whopping:

drum roll!!!!


$283.33 a month...

and only 6 more years to wait for Social security:eyes:


whooooopeee dooo.. I wonder when his new yacht will be delivered:puke:

[thunder rising]

2. "The Rock" has no intention of dying on his knees.

it would insult, and indeed lay to lie, who I am. For as old as I am, there may be one left that knows me from those day, raise his glass ... "The RRRooocckkk! Fuck it, take one with you."

Americans should never accept this. I just have to wonder, how this person's mother is prepared for the future.

(I just put myself in Steve's shoes for a minute ... sorry)

[Missy Vixen]

3. The scum at Newsbusters.org

aren't worthy to assist Mr. Skvara by taking his trash to the curb.

I hope none of them find themselves in the same circumstance. Then again, maybe it would be good for them to learn what it's like.

Julie

[blogslut]

4. Fie on Newsbusters

Smarmy, spin-cycle, sleazemongering trash.

[thunder rising]

5. They will kill you, maim you,

and let you die in misery while they toast with champaign their gains on your misfortune.

(There was much more but I deleted it)

[Old and In the Way]

6. Why does NewsBusters hate America? Are they funded by Al Qaeda?

Time to start questioning the patriotism of these organizations that can't acknowledge the damage modern conservativism is doing to our country. How much are they getting paid to trash our country?

[sandnsea]

7. lack of personal responsibility, flabbergasted

What's really annoying is that a good 50% of the country is never in the position to do this supposed planning because they don't make enough money to pay much more than monthly bills as it is.

The guy worked all those years, and somebody has the audacity to say he lacked personal responsibility.

I don't understand how people get to be like that.