Health care reform: Still on the table

Despite being left with record-breaking national debt, two wars, and an ideologically divided nation to govern, President Obama remains committed to health care reform.

It seems everyone and their brother is accusing President Barack Obama of trying to do too much given the many crises facing the nation. Political opponents use every opportunity to repeat the mantra that the president is not paying enough attention to the economy.

But this president insists he can walk and chew gum at the same time. He sees a strong connection between America’s patchwork health care system and the economy. He recognizes that access to health care is an urgent problem, too, that only grows worse with each passing day. It’s surprising that more don’t. Even his closest advisors have been lukewarm if not in outright opposition to tackling or even initiating serious discussions about health care reform this year.

Writing in The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn describes “health care reform's near-death experience” as Obama assembled his health care advisory team amid the loss of his first choice as health czar, Tom Daschle.

Health care reform will not be easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is. But too often, America has swept difficult tasks (such as immigration policy, Wall Street oversight, and a declining public education system) under the rug for future leaders to deal with – or ignore. In the past, national leaders have allowed private industry to write their own favorable legislation.

Obama has chosen a fair but difficult path for paying for health care reform. He aims to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the country's wealthiest. Those receiving the tax cuts are also among the biggest campaign contributors to candidates from both major parties. The current financial meltdown is proof-positive that money talks louder in Washington than common sense.

A serious national dialogue on health care reform will for the first time open the door for all citizens to tell their elected representatives how to vote. And elected leaders will be forced to walk their campaign talk.

Let the health care reform battle begin.