CMA Health Policy Consultants

The Center for Medicare Advocacy supports efforts to pass the Senate’s health reform bill.  We reiterate what President Obama asked of Congress in his State of the Union address, “don’t walk away from [health] reform!”  Paul Krugman agreed in his NewYork Times editorial.

Now is not the time to retreat,  or to insist that the perfect defeat the good.  Too many people have no health insurance, too many are denied coverage because of preexisting conditions, too many face bankruptcy because of uncovered medical bills for us to give up.

What would Ted Kennedy do?  He would agree!  He would push forward to pass the Senate health reform bill.  As he writes in his memoir about his efforts to pass reform – in 1977:

“My staff and I worked hard to craft a plan that would be capable of having broad-based support. Specifically, we negotiated long and hard in 1977 to persuade .. the AFL-CIO and … the UAW, to compromise on their strong commitment to a single-payer system, where health care providers would be paid  from a single national fund like Medicare  - and agree instead to support a plan built on our existing system of private insurance provided that coverage was mandatory and universal.  I had personally supported single payer in the past and understood the benefits of it, but I also knew that it would be politically impossible to pass.”  True Compass, p. 359 (2009)

Listen to Teddy!  Pass the Senate health care reform bill as soon as possible – if that’s what can be done, if that’s what’s feasible - do it!

To speak to your members of Congress, call (800)828-0498.