Health care reform is one of our nation's most controversial issues. My question is, quite simply, why? In the second major attempt to pass a bill to reform our nation's health care system, we find ourselves, once again, unwilling or unable to do so.
Despite a general agreement among Democrats, Republicans and Independents that our health care system needs to be reformed, lawmakers seem incapable of capitalizing on this consensus to create something that all Americans would, in the long run, benefit from—an improved health care system.
This is not to say that there aren't legitimate concerns about the health care bill currently on the table or reasonable arguments against the sweeping action President Obama is pushing lawmakers to take on this issue.
Some fear reform will limit their access to certain tests and operations that are covered under their current health insurance plans without significantly lowering costs. Others argue that passing reform now will serve only to further extend our nation's resources to a point where economic recovery is slowed or, worse, halted altogether.
Beyond the many valid arguments against health care reform, however, there seems to exist a growing concern among many Americans that the government is trying to do too much; that what we need from our government is not more spending bills, but instead, restraint. While this may or may not be true, the truth remains that that sentiment is there, and it's growing.
Perhaps there is no better indicator of this shift in national mood than the recent special election of a Republican, Scott Brown, to replace the late Ted Kennedy as Senator of Massachusetts. His victory reflects just how strongly people feel about the issue of health care reform, and how, despite general agreement on the need to do something about health care, passing a bill to enact real change and convincing Americans of its value will be very difficult. The large majority of Americans do, after all, already have health insurance.
In his first State of the Union Address, President Obama emphasized the need to stay true to the missions of his presidency, few more important than fixing American health care. But if he is to fulfill this promise, he must realize that he needs to move toward the middle. His determination to pass health care reform despite a dearth of moderate and Republican support has already proven to be the deathblow to his party's Senate super-majority.
Undoubtedly, the general diminishment of enthusiasm and support for health care reform stems from an all too familiar, and historically successful, Republican strategy of doing everything and anything necessary to ensure no bill is passed to drastically reform the country's health care system; a system that continues to be one of the most stable and profitable sectors of our economy.
But if President Obama and his Democratic colleagues had tried to work more closely with their Republican counterparts to produce a more universally accepted plan (even if it means doing less than they had set out to), the Republicans would not have had that chance. While health care costs continue to soar at a pace nearly double the rate of inflation and close to 15 percent of American citizens remain uninsured, something tells me that we won't be able to operate under the current system for too much longer.
That much has been acknowledged by most, yet Democrats have created a plan that is struggling to find even the smallest amount of support among moderate Republicans, and the majority of Republicans are promoting plans that they know have virtually no chance of ever being enacted by a Democratic Congress and Senate, let alone a Democratic president. But this observation points to a bigger problem that our president must come to grips with if he hopes to move our nation toward a health care system that works.
Liberal Democrats are intent on passing a bill that accomplishes all of their goals for this nation's health care system.
Republicans and even some Democrats are intent on ensuring this doesn't happen. If both sides want to see our nation's health care system reformed, it is essential that they understand that national reform requires national action, not partisan action. The Democrats won a resounding victory in the most recent election cycle that gave them a large majority in the House and a 'super majority' in the Senate (one they have since lost).
But this victory did not give Democrats some sort of divine mandate to impose their ideals on the rest of the nation. Instead, it gave them a tremendous opportunity to steer this country's agenda toward important issues like health care reform and work with the moderate Republicans to enact meaningful policies.
Instead, they put all their cards into their ability to parlay these majorities into a health care plan that, while fundamentally sound in its goals, seems to trend too far away from that elusive middle. The result has led to health care reform's current predicament. The bill hasn't gained the support of all of the moderate Democrats, and it has helped to give a once-floundering Republican Party purpose.
Ultimately, Americans want health care reform. But Americans also want politicians to put aside their private agendas to get something done. Whether policymakers want to admit it, no major piece of legislation—especially one with such tangible effects in the lives of American citizens—will be passed without bipartisan support. And, quite frankly, it shouldn't be.
No one gets everything they want in politics. That's just the name of the game. A politician's job is to find out where their interests intersect with their opponents so that they accomplish as many of their goals for our country as they possibly can.
No plan for health care reform will look perfect to any one individual, but if we can all agree that there's a problem that needs fixing, let's make sure that we do before the wheels come flying off.