July 4, 2008 - A Senator's Legacy?

According to management and life-planning guru Stephen Covey (from the subtitle of his book, First Things First), the purpose of a human life can be summed up in four essential points, all of them beginning with the letter "L": "to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy." That last point, the legacy, is often mentioned with respect to politicians – especially when they're getting ready to leave office.

Senator Ted Kennedy has a serious case of brain cancer, that probably means he's in his last months in office (see my June 6th blog entry). Kennedy's had a long, distinguished and sometimes controversial career in the Senate. A July 2nd article in the Boston Globe hints that his most cherished dream, when it comes to his own political legacy, just may be universal health care (Lisa Wangsness, "Kennedy leads renewed effort on universal healthcare").

The Globe article reports on concrete steps Kennedy's key aides have been taking, in concert with other leaders in government, to plan for a swift, hard, bipartisan push to pass a universal healthcare bill in the first few months of the next President's tenure.

Kennedy's surely counting on his close ally, Barack Obama, to become the next President – and he is, in fact, leading in the polls. History has shown the first-year "honeymoon" of a new Presidency to be the last, best opportunity for getting history-making legislation through the Congress (think FDR's New Deal, or Johnson's Civil Rights Act). The Senator's aides are quietly laying the groundwork for such an effort, in the hope of launching it before their boss becomes too ill to lend his support.

As the article says, Kennedy and his allies are trying hard not to repeat mistakes that were made the last time there was a major push for healthcare reform:

"The last time a national healthcare plan was attempted, under President Clinton in 1993, the presidential panel charged with devising a proposal was widely criticized for not consulting enough with Congress, and protracted disagreements erupted, delaying its progress for months and ultimately resulting in its demise. Kennedy's effort appears to be designed to identify areas of common ground between Democrats and Republicans, business and labor, providers and insurers, and others before the new president takes office.

‘The senator is trying to learn from health reform attempts in the past and to build a fair amount of consensus among his Senate colleagues, House colleagues, and the Obama campaign . . . and find a strategy that could carry with some momentum into the new administration,' said Dr. Jay Himmelstein, a health policy specialist at University of Massachusetts Medical School and a former Kennedy staff member who has been involved in the talks."

For Senator Kennedy, this is personal – and has been so since long before he got sick. He's always been at the forefront of healthcare-reform efforts. This time around, the very fact of his illness may not only put a human face on this complex issue, but also provide an emotional boost that could push the effort over the top.

Not that Ted Kennedy has to worry about healthcare coverage himself. A very wealthy man, he could pay his own cancer-treatment bills out of pocket, without ever tapping the unparalleled medical insurance he receives as a member of Congress. Yet, to the extent that the Senator's physically able to stand up and debate the issue, his very presence will serve as a reminder of the human impact of the legislation.

The article continues,

"‘You have got to think this will be the Ted Kennedy Health Reform Act, because he's a beloved figure and he's championed the issue for so long,' said John Rother, policy director for the AARP, which has been involved in the discussions. ‘There are a lot of unknowns right now, but what we do know obviously is he is very close to Obama, and he also has quite a network of health policy experts that he can draw from.'

Melissa Wagoner, spokeswoman for Kennedy, added that ‘Making sure each American has access to quality, affordable healthcare is the cause of Senator Kennedy's life.'"

It's no secret, to readers of this blog, that universal healthcare is a cause I've come to believe in very deeply. I feel incredibly fortunate to have had access to remarkable (and very costly) medical treatments that have probably saved my life. These I could never have afforded without insurance. I've also heard enough horror stories – not only in the news, but also firsthand, in my ministry – of uninsured people who have fallen through gaping holes in the vaunted social "safety net."

"Let them go to the Emergency Room," said President Bush, not long ago – in a remark that sounded eerily similar to Marie Antoinette's apocryphal "Let them eat cake" gaffe.

Here's an example of the sort of thing that can happen to poor patients who go for help in an underfunded emergency room, here in the U.S.A.:



More on this shocking story, with a longer set of clips from the surveillance-camera tape, can be found HERE.

Senator Kennedy and his allies have an uphill struggle ahead of them. Misinformation about universal health care in Europe and Canada is rife, and irrational fears abound.

I can't help but think, on this July 4th holiday, that there may be no more important present-day declaration of independence for the American people than this: independence from the fear of losing everything – including even our lives – to skyrocketing healthcare costs.