Democrats must personalize health-care reform measure

Republicans have made much of the fact that the Senate bill to reform America’s health-care system, passed by Democrats only on Christmas Eve, is 2,000 pages long. The GOP’s strategy is simple: Scare the American people into believing that Democrats who control Congress and the White House are out to destroy the best health system in the world.

Unfortunately, the strategy seems to be working.

A growing number of people are buying into the notion that reform is just another word for socialized medicine, and that the cost of covering the 30 million or so citizens who now do not have health insurance will bankrupt this nation. They aren’t buying any of the arguments put forth by Democrats on Capitol Hill and President Barack Obama.

Why? Because the GOP has succeeded in condensing the debate to a couple of sound bites designed to rile the public: If you’re on Medicare, you will be penalized, and will lose benefits; under a government-run health-care system, death panels will hold sway, even over your own doctor.

It doesn’t matter that both those assertions and others like them are without foundation and have been proved to be nothing more than political pabulum. However, they have been repeated so often by so many prominent Republicans that they have taken on an air of believability.

If Democrats don’t fight fire with fire, they are in danger of not only losing the national debate over health care, but they could well suffer major losses in next year’s election.

By any measure, the passage by the House and Senate of their versions of the health-care reform initiative was historic. Many presidents have talked about addressing the problems inherent in the current system, which have resulted in more than 40 million Americans not having health insurance. But the power of the insurance industry, coupled with the opposition mounted by the other special interests that have a stake in the status quo, made overhaul impossible.

President Obama is to be commended for making health-care reform a top priority in his first year in office, and the Democratic controlled Congress deserves credit for not being cowered by the relentless attacks from the right and the outright lies being spread about what will occur if a bill is signed into law.

Set the record straight

But given that the Democrats now own health-care reform, they should do everything they can during the Christmas break to set the record straight.

This can be accomplished by personalizing the reform package: Show the Medicare recipient how he will benefit; show the college graduate why she won’t have to remain a full-time student just to stay on her parents’ health insurance; and show the small business owner how reforming the system will help him provide health insurance to his employees — at a lower cost.

While the bills passed by the House and Senate will have to be reconciled by a conference committee when Congress returns from its break, there are common provisions that will result in most Americans having health insurance coverage. In addition, unpopular insurance company practices, such as denying coverage with pre-existing health conditions, would be banned. Uninsured or self-employed Americans would shop for insurance in new marketplaces called exchanges.

Lower-income Americans will receive government subsidies to buy insurance.

The $1 trillion price tag over 10 years will be paid for by a combination of tax and fee increases and cuts in projected Medicare spending.

These are all things that need to be stressed by Democratic members of Congress.

The American people need to be reassured.