Reconciliation or Reconciliate?

True or False?
All criminals have a constitutional right to a lawyer? True.
All honest working Americans have a right to a doctor? False.

Incomprehensible statements such as those espoused above have placed health care reform at the very top of President Obama's agenda. Aside from having to combat the greatest economic recession since the Great Depression, attempting to repair a fledgling public school system that was only harmed by No Child Left Behind, and reasserting America's soft power by moving the focus off of Iraq and opening diplomatic relations where possible, President Obama, and Congress, have the task of reforming a broken health care system. With the current state of American health care, there are major issues relating to cost, access, and quality. America spends nearly 17% of its GDP on health care, an astronomical number when compared to nations around the world, yet we hardly reap the benefits. 45 million Americans are left uninsured, while those who are insured are faced with ever rising costs and in many cases, below average care. With unemployment on the rise due to the recession, thousands of Americans are losing their jobs, and with it, their health insurance provided through their employers. COBRA, the program for those who are unemployed to retain their health insurance, has enormous premiums that make it all but impossible for Americans to afford it. People are left sitting at the kitchen table at the age of 62, praying that nothing happens to them until they can begin to reap the benefits of Medicare at the age of 65. Millions of Americans are one sickness or one injury away from being bankrupt. To put it in the most simple terms, there is nothing more integral than combatting the issues that are ravaging the American health care system.


With a substantial majority in the House of Representatives, and the so-called "super majority" of 60 Democratic Senators, it may appear as if any health care reform bill would be easy to get through to President Obama's desk. To top it off, the Senate passed a measure known as reconciliation this spring, meaning that when the health care bill does come to the Senate floor, the Republicans cannot filibuster as only a simple majority is needed for passage, rather than the normal 60 votes needed to pass a bill. However, this has caused great debate. While some, such as Majority Leader Reid propose a more partisan approach in order to ensure that what is needed in the bill is there, others, such as Senator Max Baucus, the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, have attempted to look for a more bipartisan solution to the health care crisis. This of course begs the question, is America better off if the Democrats recognize that they don't need any Republican votes to pass real health care reform and they instead insure a strong bill is passed this year? Is it better for the Democrats to utilize reconciliation, or should they make more of an attempt to reconciliate with Republicans and create more of a working consensus towards the future? These are the questions that will ultimately be answered in the coming days and weeks, as President Obama has urged Congress to have a bill on his desk by the August recess.


In my opinion, for the immediate term and specifically regarding the health care bill, the Democrats need to proceed, even if it means little to no Republican support for the bill. Put simply, the Democrats have a mandate. They won huge victories in the 2006 and 2008 elections, and Americans have put faith in them to get real change done in Washington. There has been plenty of opportunity for Republicans to be a real part of creating this bill, along with the other major legislation passed thus far in the Obama Administration, yet they continually oppose anything with the names Pelosi, Reid, or Obama on it. America cannot afford to wait any longer. Try telling an uninsured forty year old woman with a medical condition who can't afford health insurance, and even if she could, would probably be left in the dust by private insurance companies who refuse to insure "high-risk" patients that she needs to just wait it out a little longer while we wait for the Republicans to get what they want. How ridiculous is that? The people who need health insurance most can't get it because they're not healthy. If Republicans get their way, there won't be a public option to keep the private insurance companies honest. With the ever-flowing streams of cash coming into the private insurance companies, and practices such as the one described above, it's time for them to either compete or fold. These insurance companies are killing Americans, and it's about time it stops. Senator Reid has stated that it is more important for the integral parts of the bill to be included than to have a few Republican votes while stripping down the bill to something that will not do much to save American lives. I stand with Senator Reid on this, and strongly urge the Democrats to do whatever it takes to pass strong health care legislation that includes a public option to insure Americans. Word has come out in the past couple of days that President Obama and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel are now taking this position as well. On November 4th, 2008, Barack Obama stood at Grant Park and boldy claimed victory, stating that "Change has come to America." Well, it's time for that change. Republicans: get on board, or get out of the way.