Don't Let Healthcare Reform Die

Scott Brown might be the best thing to have happened to health care reform. Because of his election to the US Senate from my state of Massachusetts, neither the flawed House of Representatives-passed version of health care reform nor the very flawed Senate version of the measure will be enacted into law.

Instead, lawmakers in Congress must go back to the drawing board.

Perhaps now, with more modest legislation, we can get that bi-partisanship everybody says they want.

Let's put a bill (or series of bills) together that expands health care coverage to most, if not all, of the millions currently uninsured. Everybody seems to want that.

Let's put into that bill some language that won't allow insurance companies to reject coverage of those with "previous conditions" or set ridiculously low limits on the amount of coverage a person would be allowed in a year or in a lifetime. Everybody seems to want those types of changes, as well.

Can we also put into that bill some language that takes away anti-trust immunity from health insurance companies and treats their industry like every other industry? Everybody seems to want that, and it's sure to help competition and ease the upward pressure on the cost of insurance.

And, that's all! Let's do no more now! As the economy improves, we can go further to reform health care coverage in the months and years to come.

Simple steps and simple majorities - maybe that's the way to bi-partisanship and a better health care system for all!