Lawmakers are becoming more and more plugged in to the fact that health care and health insurance reform are issues that the American people are extremely concerned about. The unusually large amount of attention and legislation in 2008 supports that fact. As more and more are losing their health care coverage due to continued increases in deductibles, skyrocketing prescriptions and insurance premiums, Congress is likely to act in 2009, according to the consensus recently at a Washington DC health care forum sponsored by two non-partisan groups.

Since Senator Kennedy (D-MA) relinquished his seat on the Senate Judiciary committee a few weeks ago to work specifically on health care reform, the resolve in Congress to pass sweeping legislation seems to be growing. John McDonough, a health care aide to Senator Kennedy stated that the Senator is committed to achieving comprehensive health care reform and is very confident it can be done in the upcoming Congress.

The Republican Health Policy Director for the Senate Finance Committee, Charles Clapton stated that there was strong Republican support for getting the plan done, but that money is constricted by over a trillion dollar deficit. There would be competition for the funding, but with a system wherein private plans were delivering the benefits, we would see the most innovation. Similarly, Dr. Mark L. Hayes, the GOP Advisor for Health Policy on the Senate Finance Committe stressed the necessity for bipartisanship if a bill is to get passed, and that waiting 15 years to enact a plan will cause severe problems as opposed to solving the problem now.

Jocelyn Moore, an aide to Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), said that Senator Rockefeller is ready and eager to work with the Administration and the Congressional leadership to make sure that the goal of comprehensive health care reform is achieved. She said that there will be no options taken off the table and that the window is wide open for reform. Specific issues to be addressed should include increased coverage and affordability, reining in skyrocketing unnecessary spending, and development of preventative care programs.

With a reported 475,000 jobs lost in November and employers shedding nearly 700,000 in December, the issue isn't likely to go away any time soon, as large numbers of unemployed workers will undoubtedly be dropping health care coverage out of financial necessity. Congress has its hands full with this issue. We can hope they will work together to find a way to pass some version of the comprehensive universal health care plan which we desperately need.