So far, but yet so close

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act Saturday night. That’s good news. The bad news is that the gray-hairs in the Senate are moving (full glacial speed ahead) toward passing their own version of health care reform—a watered down bill that doesn’t include a government-backed insurance plan or allows states to “opt-out” of one.

Getting the more-conservative Senate Democrats to pass a bill that will dovetail with the House’s is a long-way’s off. But, going back to Theodore Roosevelt, real health insurance coverage for every American has never been so close.

Here’s what we need to do to get there:

Email or call our U.S. Senators to tell them:

We want a strong government insurance plan included in their health care legislation. No other idea will force the health insurance industry to play fair more than this one. That’s why they’re so opposed to it. Right now, the chief executives of Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Health Care, Aetna, and Cigna are scared. They will do almost anything (maybe anything) to stop a government insurance plan from forcing their rates down. They say a so-called public option will force everyone into the arms of the federal government for insurance.

Why? They know they charge too much. They know they won’t be able to raise their insurance premiums every year just to pay fewer medical bills. They know they can’t compete with a government plan that puts patients ahead of Wall Street stockholders.

States should not be able to opt-out of the government insurance plan. Not only does this possibility raise Constitutional equal protection questions, but it prevents health insurance reform from reaching the people who need it most.

It’s no fluke that the most conservative states also have the most uninsured citizens. And these same states will be the most likely to “opt-out” of any real health insurance reform. Texas leads the nation in uninsured people (1 in 4), but is arguably the most conservative state in the country. If I know Tex. Gov. Rick Perry like I think I do, his Royal Hairness will be tripping over himself to jump in front of a microphone to be the first to opt-out.

I can hear him now: “Folks, Texans don’t need the federal government in Washington (cue slow zoom, black-and-white photo of political opponent Kay Bailey Hutchison) telling them what to do. So that’s why I’m setting a match to this stack of new health insurance policies covering every uninsured man, woman, and child in this great state of Texas. GIG ‘EM!”

If the Senate Democrats get this message, they will help make history. If they don’t (and the health insurance lobbyists roaming their chambers get their way), they won't.