Whatever it takes, just pass the bill

Now consider this: The Commonwealth Fund estimates that if we had passed the reform proposed by President Richard Nixon, health spending would be 10.7 percent of GDP. If we passed President Jimmy Carter’s initiative, it would be 11.5 percent. Passage of President Bill Clinton’s plan would have it at 14.2 percent.

But partisan bickering torpedoed those efforts. We must stop making the same mistake over again and do whatever it takes to reform the broken system…

Casting the health care reform debate as a victory for one party or a defeat for another misses the bigger picture. Going without health reform is a catastrophic defeat for all Americans, regardless of party registration. We may not all agree on the issues, but certainly we can all agree that the outstanding medical care Americans enjoy isn’t any good to us if we can’t afford it.