Health Care Reform on life support

Although it was not a sure bet, I would have wagered the farm on the Health Care Reform bills becoming law.

Lucky for me, Dan Gilbert's casino is not yet open; at the age of 54, it would have been tough to move back home with mom.

Understanding that there are other issues that affect voters decisions, it's still very discouraging that the Massachusetts Democratic party fell asleep at the wheel, and a candidate whose platform included being against health care reform won the US senate seat vacated by the passing of Ted Kennedy.

This is a bitter pill for supporters of reform to swallow, but maybe some good could come from it. There was a lot of jostling that needed to be done to win the support of senators like Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson to gain the 60 vote filibuster proof majority. The filibuster proof majority is gone, but the Democrats still have a 59-41 majority. This could be a time to make some adjustments that make the Senate bill stronger, and closer to the House version. Like returning to the bill the public option that Joe Lieberman vowed to vote against. They may not need Joe no mo.

Perhaps some Massachusetts voters voted as they did because health care was not a primary concern of theirs, Massachusetts does have a state coordinated plan, working with private insurers, with a goal to cover all citizens in the state.

And the majority of the US does have some type of health care insurance, so with a lot of other competing issues, health care may not be on the forefront of their mind, so we can ask:

Who speaks for the uninsured and underinsured ?

There are many in our country, political leaders and citizens alike, who view our health care situation as a national epidemic. And there are likely many more citizens who have at least some concern and awareness about the problem, and would support some type of reform. But their support could be tenuous for many reasons, not least of which is that most of them already have some type of health care insurance. With so many other problems that people could be facing everyday, health care reform may not be high on their list.

There are approximately 45 million Americans who don't have health insurance, and while many of those numbers are by choice, it is still an imposing figure. But there are about 220 million voting age people in the US.

This is not a unique situation, our history is filled with times where less than a majority of our citizens were facing some type of hardship, but it is at many of these moments where our leaders have been at their best. In many ways, that is the essence of leadership - convincing people that don't necessarily have a direct stake in an issue the value of doing the right thing.

So, maybe we are at one of those moments now. Where our leaders, starting with the president, help convince the citizens of all that is right with a better health care insurance system. If actions like this could win the support of our citizens, then maybe the few Senate opponents that would need to be won over could be convinced by the power of the people's voices. Or, even without their votes, it could look downright foolish to filibuster if you aren't speaking for the people--people who see that there is a better way, and it's here now, right within our grasp.