Here's a plea to the senators working this holiday week in Washington, D.C.: keep voting on health care reform until you get it done. Despite the pitfalls of the current legislation, including no public option or Medicare buy-in for those under 65, we are closer to reforming our archaic and unworkable health care coverage system than we have ever been. Do not quit now. Do not let an obstinate and politically minded Republican minority kill this bill with delaying tactics and arguments that we should start over from scratch.
They know very well that starting over means killing the bill. Would it be better to have a bipartisan majority pass this historic legislation? Absolutely. But the Republican senators made a decision early on that defeating reform was to their advantage politically, at least in the short-term. Blocking this legislation would prevent President Obama and his congressional majority from achieving his most important domestic priority. Just as many conservatives opposed Social Security in the 1930s and Medicare in the 1960s, they will be on the wrong side of history once again.
Millions of Americans will benefit from health care reform, finally able to obtain health insurance in the richest country in the world. People with pre-existing conditions will not be denied coverage. People who lose their jobs will not lose coverage. The bill also begins to tackle rising health care costs. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the legislation would reduce federal deficits by $132 billion over 10 years.
A telling moment for me this weekend was a report on National Public Radio which interviewed some young insurance company employees whose job it was to say yea or nay to people applying for health insurance depending in large part on whether they had pre-existing conditions. These two employees literally scoffed at many of the requests for coverage from people who got sick and then wanted to get health insurance instead of buying it as a protection against getting sick. I'm sure there are people who do that. But there are also millions of others who through no fault of their own have serious medical conditions such as diabetes, cancer, heart conditions and more. Unless covered by a group policy at work or through their spouse, they cannot get coverage. That simply is not right.
Nor is it right for people to lose everything when a medical crisis hits their family. Nor is it right for people without insurance to have to go to hospital emergency rooms for basic care at four or five times the cost of treating them in a clinic. Nor is right for people to lose insurance because they lose their jobs.
The Democrats had some problems corralling their 60 votes to assure a final vote on health care reform. Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman got his moment in the sun by refusing to give his support for the bill until the government option and the Medicare buy-in were eliminated. The ever sanctimonious senator acted like a school kid who wanted to take his ball and go home unless he got his way. And Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, the 60th vote, pushed through abortion funding restrictions and extra Medicaid money for his state.
Making legislation, particularly with the Senate's filibuster rules, is not pretty. Bargains are struck. Deals are made. One senator from a small state can exercise undue influence on the process.
That said, health care reform is vital. We need to keep the big picture in mind. Forty-six million people don't have coverage. We are the only western democratic country without some form of universal coverage. We spend more per capita than any country yet rank 37th in terms of health and wellness. Presidents since Harry Truman have tried to reform our system without success.
So if the senators have to vote to pass reform on Christmas Eve or even Christmas Day, I can't think of a better gift to the country.