A Long and Winding Road

It entirely fitting that Majority Leader Henry Reid invoked the memories of President Harry S. Truman and Senator Edward M. Kennedy in his comments to the press after the historic cloture vote yesterday evening (60-39) allowing floor debate on the Senate's version of health care reform legislation. In 1945 President Truman sent a long message to the 79th Congress advocating a national health insurance plan. Senator Kennedy is recognized as the statesman who dedicated his career to making health care reform a reality. He did not live to see a bill passed, but he knew the goal was in sight before he died. President Truman began his remarks as follows:

Millions of our citizens do not now have a full measure of opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health. Millions do not now have the protection or security against the economic effects of sickness. The time has arrived for action to help them attain that opportunity and that protection...In the past, the benefits of modern medical science have not been enjoyed by our citizens with any degree of equality. Nor are they today. Nor will they be in the future--unless government is bold enough to do something about it...We should resolve that the health of this Nation is a national concern; that financial barriers in the way of attaining health shall be removed; that the health of all its citizens deserves the help of all the Nation.

The words written over sixty years ago, unfortunately for many Americans, are still true today. But at long last redressing the social inequity to which Senator Kennedy dedicated his public life may be upon us.