Do It Now

Reading the pronouncements from President-Elect Obama and Mr. Daschle, you wouldn't think that health care reform is an emergent need. There's money for the auto industry, the banks, the brokerages, and perhaps the roads and bridges, but little understanding that for sick children, their sick parents, and many of our working uninsured sick, we have run out of time. Mr. Obama, a child with leukemia needs access to, and provision of, health care without regard to insurance coverage. A sick parent, whose illness jeopardizes employment and the family's financial well-being, and who is one paycheck (or less) from being homeless, can't wait two years for help. A senior who is in the donut hole and finds herself unable to spend the $254 it will take to get 90 days' worth of medicine from the Prescription Solutions (AARP) provider, may be dead before more help is on the way.

It takes guts to do what's right, to provide the health care services that many Americans desperately need. In two years, many of those who could have been helped will be dead or be suffering from chronic disabling disease that could have been addressed on a timely basis if only the resources were made available now. Unfortunately, there was no one at the table honestly, and without a conflict of interests, representing those in need, offsetting the hospital industry, the insurance industry, the durable medical equipment providers, those who are promising health record vaporware, the associations of those who are addicted to feeding from the federal cash flow, and those who simply don't believe that the uninsured are worthy of help.

There simply isn't time to waste. Do it now. Fix our broken health care system.