I have the privilege of being the person who gets to tell hundreds of people each year that they don't qualify for medical insurance. That the national healthcare debate on kids and adults hasn't reached a resolution that will help them meet their basic needs for medical care.



I don't know if the Barak Obama health care plan or if Hilary Clinton's health care plan is better. I don't know if president bush's plan on health care is optimal. I don't know if when the president vetos a health care bill he is right or wrong. I just know when grown people start crying after they hear how the health care debate has failed them something is horribly wrong with the way we handle this issue in America.

Why we need healthcare reform? reason 1

It fails us when we need it most!

I get calls from people who have worked all of their lives and who were always covered by their job's medical plan. At some point they developed a disease or had an accident that ended their ability to earn a living. Shortly after this event they lost their job. They were offered COBRA, but COBRA usually last 18 months. After this 18 month period, they are often uninsurable for all but the outrageously expensive guaranteed issue plans offered by the government. These plans often cost several time what a standard plan costs and the standard plans are not cheap.

Why we need healthcare reform? reason 2

The Debate is about who pays for it!

There doesn't seem to be any thought to ways to reduce the frequency of doctor's visits. The is nothing done to promote the ideas of eating and living better to reduce the actual costs, just ways to shift the burden of the costs to different people. Frankly, I don't want the government to tell me that I should stop eating candy nor do I want Big Brother forcing me to do calisthenics every morning. However, I do believe that more should be done to reduce our need for health care and not just change the person or persons who pay for it. I hope that this gets added to the national debate.

Something needs to be done. Universal? Egalitarian? Mandatory? Paid for by consumers? Paid for by taxes? I don't know. But there should be an answer in a country with the resources that the United States of America has.

Individuals, who have obeyed our laws should be able to find reasonably priced health care regardless of any pre existing condition. The universal healthcare debate which seemed to have peaked in the Hillary Clinton 1993 health care plan, needs to reach a level where we get motivated enough to do something and to fix this pressing problem.