By NYCeve (Eve Gittelson)

As President Obama addresses the nation on Wednesday evening, please remember Army Specialist Greg Missman who gave his life in Afghanistan, in an attempt to access healthcare for his family. This is yet another tragic and instructive piece of our uniquely American healthcare catastrophe.

CNN Transcript

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. How far would you go to get good health insurance? One man who lost his job and medical benefits reenlisted in the Army just to get his family covered and then he paid the ultimate price. This is a story that you’ll see only here on CNN.

Jim Acosta joins us now from Washington for the heart-wrenching report. It’s unbelievable story, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESONDENT: It is terrible, John. The story of Greg Missman as you mentioned is not just about a soldier’s sacrifice in the intensifying war in Afghanistan. It’s also about a father’s sacrifice to his family, when that family has no health insurance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): Army Specialist Greg Missman was only on the ground in Afghanistan for one month.

JIM MISSMAN, FATHER OF ARMY SPC. GREG MISSMAN: My son’s convoy had been ambushed.

ACOSTA: In July, his father Jim got that knock on the door.

J. MISSMAN: A chaplain and a master sergeant showed up. So it was – it was not a pleasant day.

ACOSTA: It was an abrupt end to what was actually Missman’s second stint in the Army. He left the service 11 years ago, but last year, he lost his job as a computer consultant.

(on camera): He lost his job?

J. MISSMAN: Um-hmm.

ACOSTA: And became unemployed.

J. MISSMAN: Became unemployed. Lost his health insurance.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Missman says his son reenlisted to see to it his family had health insurance.

J. MISSMAN: See you in a year.

ACOSTA: He was full of confidence on the day he left for Afghanistan.

J. MISSMAN: So he said, you know, I’m going to go back in the Army and make sure Jack has — his son Jack would have health insurance. That was really the motivating thing to have him go back in.

ACOSTA (on camera): Greg Missman grew up in a community that’s already lost two of its sons in the war of Iraq. Greg made it three, only in Afghanistan.

(voice-over): Keith (INAUDIBLE) son, Matt, is one of the other fallen soldiers.

(on camera): Do you think we’ll see more cases like Greg Missman?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No doubt about it. We probably will. You know, I was going to say hope it isn’t from here, but I hope it isn’t from anywhere. But it will happen again.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Jim Missman looks at the letters he has received from the president and military leaders and worries about the future.

J. MISSMAN: I’m a gold star parent because of my son’s sacrifice, and I would rather not see any other Gold Star parents.

ACOSTA: But this Gold Star parent doesn’t have the answer on how to fix the nations’ health care system.

J. MISSMAN: He made quite a sacrifice. Health care is – it’s going to be a tough one.

ACOSTA: These days he’s remembering a son who sacrificed to country and family.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And a Pentagon spokesman said there is no way to count how many soldiers have joined the armed services to get health care benefits. As for Greg Missman, his son will continue receive military health insurance so this soldier’s sacrifice will live on, John.

ROBERTS: What a shame. What a story. Jim Acosta for us this morning. Jim, thanks so much.

Click here for full transcript: http://transcripts.cnn.com/…

Jose and Flora Ana Granado need a public option.

Jose Guevara and Flora Ana Granado, Mount Rainier, Md.

When Jose, 49, or Flora, 40, need to see a doctor, they rely on La Clinica del Pueblo, a community health clinic in the District, which charges patients on a sliding scale. Jose and Flora pay $20 for an office visit. They don’t have coverage for hospitalization. Jose says he’s not optimistic that proposals in Congress would do much to help families like his. “What I’m hearing is, the only benefit is for the people who are already earning a lot,” he says. Lawmakers, he says, should “help the people who need it the most, the poor people.”

Christine Duncan and Gerald Duncan, Denver

In July, the Duncans, who run a small drafting firm, dropped health insurance coverage for themselves and their 20-year-old son after their insurer raised premiums to $766 a month from $706. The increase came amid a severe downturn in the couple’s business, which has been hit hard by the recession.

“We had nothing coming in during July,” says Christine, 53, who says the couple earned about $50,000 last year but will make much less this year.

In the 15 years they have been buying their own insurance, the Duncans have seen their premiums rise by 300 percent, she says. The July increase left them with a stark choice: Paying the mortgage or paying for insurance.

“We’re praying we don’t need any medical care,” she says.

David Sherry and Debbie Sherry, Green Bay, Wis.

Four years ago, David Sherry, now 59, took early retirement after working for the city of Green Bay for 34 years. He and his 57-year-old wife, whose job doesn’t offer insurance, decided to stay on the city’s health plan for retirees. They pay a premium of $1,025 a month.

Before the plan fully covers their medical care, they each must shell out $2,600 a year in deductibles and co-payments for hospital and doctor bills. All told, their premiums, deductibles and drug costs will total at least $18,400 this year. That’s about 28 percent of their $65,000 in income from Debbie’s office job, David’s pension and his part-time job at a car dealership.

The Sherrys had trouble paying their $5,200 in deductibles and co-payments last year, so they started a payment plan under which they paid $300 a month. But some providers threatened to report them to a collection agency, so they sold one of their remaining financial assets – some stock – to pay off the bill.

Late last year, David received a diagnosis of bladder cancer, and his wife is scheduled to have surgery on her parathyroid gland this month. Because of those health problems, the couple expects to confront the full deductible again this year.

“What are we going to sell off next year to pay our $5,000?” David asks. “The only way I’ll get a little reprieve is if I live until 65 and go on Medicare. Then my premium won’t be as much. Maybe I should have stayed working until I died.”

Mr. President, I could go on all day.There are tens of millions just like these three families. What a tragedy that our fine volunteer army could become a repository for desperate Americans needing healthcare.

Americans need a robust public option available on day one. No triggers. No co-ops. Just a straight up public option.