Pass health care reform now, fix holes later

Because of endless compromises, President Obama's health care reform now falls far short of perfect, but it must be passed because it at least it does these two important things:

1. It would prohibit discrimination by insurance companies on the basis of medical condition. No one could be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition, or have their insurance canceled when they get sick.

2. It would provide financial help to people who don't get health insurance through their employers, and provide tax breaks for small businesses that do provide insurance.

It's too bad we couldn't have copied the best of what works in other countries. I recently watched a PBS “Frontline” program that examined government-run health care systems in Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and Taiwan - all capitalist democracies. Under each system, the patients were happy, the doctors were happy, there were usually no long waits for care and no one was drowning in red ink - not the patients or the government.

Our proposed reform is inferior to any of their systems, but we are where we are. We need to pass health reform now and fix the holes later.

Jenny Rutafan

Cedar Rapids