Stephen M Soltys M.D.

A few years ago I read an article indicating that health care was rivaling state government as the largest employment area in Springfield. It didn’t surprise me. Since the founding of the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in the 1970s, there has been steady growth not only of the SIU clinics but of both […]

 For the last year I have been disheartened by the steady stream of police shootings that have been witnessed where there seems to be minimal provocation. For example, on Sept. 4 a man in South Carolina was standing outside his car when asked by a state police officer to produce his license. When he reached […]

Why do voters support politicians whose clear policy goals indicate that they are likely to support measures that will adversely impact the very people who voted for them? For example, the various iterations of the widely unpopular Republican American HealthCare Act  (AHCA) were based on a GOP policy document released June 22, 2016.  http://abetterway.speaker.gov/_assets/pdf/ABetterWay-HealthCare-PolicyPaper.pdf You […]

I am in agreement with President Donald Trump on at least one thing. He is quoted as telling Republican senators that the House’s American Health Care Act (AHCA) was “mean” and whatever Senate Republicans come up with needed to be “more generous, more kind.” A recent Quinnipiac poll that shows only 17 percent of Americans […]

 As I reflected on last month’s Earth Day and the current attack by the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), I considered what impact this agency has had on the environment and the health of the nation. The impact on the environment is easier to see. When the first […]

One of the common plot devices of horror films is to have a climactic event where a threatening evil is defeated. The triumphant characters breathe a sigh of relief, begin putting their lives together and then, BANG! The supposedly vanquished terror unexpectedly raises its ugly head again in a final effort to overcome the forces […]

 Recently I was talking with a small business owner about the privately purchased health care policy that covered the owner and spouse. They pay about $12,000 a year for a policy with a $6,000 deductible each. Preventative health maintenance with a medical professional is something that they just can’t afford. Their insurance is only to […]

While I often disagree with policy positions articulated by Gov. Bruce Rauner, I had to agree with him when he spoke out against the current effort to convert Medicaid into a Block Grant being pushed by Republicans in an attempt to derail the Affordable Care Act. One of the most important provisions of the ACA […]

All Americans face the prospect that very shortly after Jan. 20, Congress will repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). That means between 14 and 17 million people (depending on the report you want to use) will have their health care benefits in jeopardy. It is estimated that over one million of them are in Illinois. […]

In 1935, It Can’t Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis, was published. Lewis tells the story of how a populist demagogue with strong authoritarian leanings becomes president and eventually a dictator. Some parallels to this year’s presidential election campaign are striking. Written as fascism was taking hold of Germany and Italy, the novel served as a […]