Courage. No health care reform will succeed until the White House and the Congress are finally willing to stand up to the health care lobby. The shameful hold on Congress by that industry must end; the names of legislators beholden to it must be widely publicized, so voters can assess who's listening to the money, not the needs of the people.
Government must use its enormous bargaining power to lower the costs of the health care it pays for, such as Medicare and Medicaid. It was outrageous for Congress in 2003 to forbid Medicare from negotiating lower drug costs with pharmaceutical companies.
But our leaders need our support if we expect them to make tough decisions like these. There won't be meaningful health care reform if citizens remain frightened, insular and uninformed. All of us need to:
Accept that health care reform must happen, even though it may mean changes we think might be risky or that reduce treatment options the nation can no longer afford.
Accept that covering all Americans is going to cost a lot of money upfront; many of the best cost-containment measures may take years to implement.
Wake up. Giving for-profit companies the primary power to manage our national health care pleases libertarian and rightwing ideologues, but it's not a policy that can ever lead to efficient and equitable outcomes. If for-profit companies are to continue to play a role, it must be tightly regulated, as it is now in the popular plan enjoyed by Federal employees.
Be prepared to stand up to Harry and Louise. The more capable we are of making informed decisions, the less vulnerable we are to the simplistic scare tactics sure to be thrown at us by the protectors of this woeful status quo.
We deserve better than what we have.
We deserve better than what the health care industry is willing to give us.
We deserve better than a weak compromise from Congress described as victory.
We will have to fight for it.
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