Crticize-Editorial On Healthcare Reform In The Senate From A Leadership Standpoint/View

Crticize-Editorial On Healthcare Reform In The Senate From A Leadership Standpoint/View

In light of the recent election of a Republican to fill the late Senator Ted Kennedy's seat, the challenge of passing a sweeping reform bill to overhaul America's health care system might appear to have gotten a little bit harder. But to those of us who view universal access to affordable health care as our most urgent domestic problem, it WILL NOT change our resolve. According to the World Health Organization, the United States ranks a dismal 37th in quality of health care, far below other large nations (almost all of whom have some form of national health care coverage) and just below Costa Rica. In fact, we drop even lower on the report when it comes to “fairness” and “health level,” where our tolerance of discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions stands out as an embarrassing anomaly compared to other countries.

What Choosing To Pass Health Care Reform Will Mean To Politicians And To The People

For politicians, namely the House Democrats needed to propel health care reform through this latest obstacle, the temptation to simply quit is obvious. But the benefits of doing so - silencing the political discord - will be temporary. To have worked on - and, most likely, voted for - some draft of health care reform over the past year, only to have NOTHING ultimately passed will surely be used against Democrats across the board. And their re-election hopes would probably be as dim as those of the last Democratic incumbents who failed on health care in 1994.

But should Democrats stand firmly (and, finally, united) behind an effort to get the Senate bill passed, those up for re-election this fall will immediately start seeing benefits delivered to ...