Lawmakers are becoming more and more plugged in to the fact that health care and health insurance reform are issues that the American people are extremely concerned about. The unusually large amount of attention and legislation in 2008 supports that fact. As more and more are losing their health care coverage due to continued increases in deductibles, skyrocketing prescriptions and insurance premiums, Congress is likely to act in 2009, according to the consensus recently at a Washington DC health care forum sponsored by two non-partisan groups.

Since Senator Kennedy (D-MA) relinquished his seat on the Senate Judiciary committee a few weeks ago to work specifically on health care reform, the resolve in Congress to pass sweeping legislation seems to be growing. John McDonough, a health care aide to Senator Kennedy stated that the Senator is committed to achieving comprehensive health care reform and is very confident it can be done in the upcoming Congress.

The Senate Finance Committee’s Republican Advisor for Health Policy, Dr. Mark L. Hayes, spoke of the need for bipartisanship in addressing the issue. He stated the current rate of Federal health spending can not be sustained, and that the cost of not acting now would be too high, so something must be done now rather than later. That is not in contrast to the statement made by Charles Clapton, the GOP Health Policy Director, who spoke on his own behalf. Clapton conveyed that he thought health reform could get done with strong support from Republicans, but with the existing massive budget deficits facing Congress, there would be some competition for those dollars. The Republican members, he said are committed to a delivery system that is market-based and which emphasizes that private plans should be delivering the benefit. He added his thoughts that private plans could hold the best opportunity for innovation.

Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)’s aide Jocelyn Moore also spoke up at the forum. She stressed that the issues of skyrocketing unnecessary spending, effective preventative care, and affordability should be addressed in the development of a sweeping reform plan. She stated that all options are on the table and that Senator Rockefeller is eager to get started working with the Congressional leadership and the new Administration to accomplish the goal of comprehensive health care reform.

With a reported 475,000 jobs lost in November and employers shedding nearly 700,000 in December, the issue isn’t likely to go away any time soon, as large numbers of unemployed workers will undoubtedly be dropping health care coverage out of financial necessity. Congress has its hands full with this issue. We can hope they will work together to find a way to pass some version of the comprehensive universal health care plan which we desperately need.