In November last year, when Reno resident Rich Haber went to see a doctor about skin cancer on his arm, his health insurance company was in the background pulling the strings and affecting the care the received.

“It’s total lunacy,” Haber said. “They don’t belong in the mix at all.”

In October, Paula McDonough of Reno lost her job and filed for unemployment insurance benefits. She has been receiving $202 a week, out of which she has had to pay all her bills, including $480 a month to continue her employer’s health care coverage.

“I haven’t eaten a meal or turned on a light or washed my clothes and I’m already in debt,” McDonough said.

These scenarios were just two of many discussed Saturday morning by a group of locals who gathered as part of a national effort this weekend to give grassroots input on the future of U.S. health care. Put together by the Democratic National Committee through the group Organizing For America, the purpose of this weekend’s meetings was to compile input from everyday people for the dialog in Washington, D.C. about health care reform.

Local organizer Lisa Stiller gathered around 20 residents at the Joe Crowley Student Union at the University of Nevada, Reno on Saturday to hear their stories and gather their thoughts to send on to national legislators.

Much of the consensus among people like McDonough and Haber was that there needs to be a nationalized, single-payer health care option. Obama and Democratic leaders have publicly said a single-payer program, under which a single government program would pay for all Americans’ health care, is not an option. By the end of Saturday’s discussion at UNR, the suggestion was officially made that the single-payer option needs to be on the table.

As demonstrated by McDonough’s example, there is an issue with lack of affordable insurance, and in Haber’s example, an issue of quality of care for those who have coverage. Also sharing her trials with health care was Reno resident Gail Pratt, who retired nine years ago and has since seen her health care premiums double. With longevity in her family history, she worries the premiums will double in another 10 years.

“There is something wrong with this picture and we need to correct it,” she said.

Husband and wife Mario and Debbie Velarde of Reno spoke of their difficulties caring for a teenage daughter, a son with muscular dystrophy and dealing with Mario’s diabetes. In the last 30 days, the Velarde has had $1,000 in medical expenses. Mario said he has been a realtor for 15 years and the current downturn in the housing market has obliterated his income. Though the market is turning around some, Debbie added, the lack of secure health insurance in the profession makes their family’s struggle constant.

“If something happens medically our whole lives are disrupted,” she said. “It derails our whole attempt to get back on our feet economically.”

Reno resident Robert Townsend also shared a story of “less than wonderful attention and care” he received five years ago when he went to the hospital for what turned out to be a kidney stone. After two nights in the hospital and a $20,000 bill, a urologist told Townsend that if properly treated he could have been in and out in 15 minutes.

Townsend also said he was double-billed for many services related to the incident, which he was later told by a hospital accountant is commonly built in to the system because health insurance companies just pay the bill without examining it. Townsend said he was told that by calling patient relations it is common to have a bill reduced by one-third by eliminating the double billings.

A former nurse who asked only to be referred to by her first name, Michele, also addressed why many services at hospitals cost as much as they do. The example was brought up of a CAT scan costing $1,000. Competition contributes to the cost, she said, because if there are two hospitals in one area they will each buy a CAT scan machine so they can both offer the service. That expense is then passed to patients.

The group also discussed ways in which to put on a local event for the June 27 national health care day of service.

“I think they were real excited, there was a lot of energy,” Stiller said after the meeting. “I hope this will lead to something to educate the public about the need for health care reform.”

Another forum will be held today from 3 to 5 p.m. at the home of Alise Moss Vetica, 4575 Eagle Mountain Dr. in Sparks. For more information or to RSVP, go to www.barackobama.com, click on “This Saturday, Health Care Reform Starts in Your Town,” and enter a local ZIP code.