Dem's in Congress: Do something on Health Care already!

The health care crisis in this country is a monumental catastrophe: we spend more money on health care than any other nation, and yet tens of millions of us can't get basic coverage, while millions more are denied coverage because of "pre-existing" conditions.

72 percent of Americans support a public health insurance option. With numbers like that, you'd think that Democrats in Congress would get the idea.

But timid, moderate Democrats remain skeptical, and are still pushing for a compromise between them and uncompromising Republicans.

This raises two questions for these "Blue Dog" Democrats: first, after an election where Dem's won an overwhelming majority of seats in Congress (as well as the presidency itself) in large part due to public support for health care reform, does it make much sense to back down from a public option now? And second: after failing to see Republicans cooperate -- both presently and in the past -- on health care reform, why should we expect anything from them now?

With 59 (soon to be 60) seats in the Senate and 257 seats in the House -- not to mention a president just itching to sign reform into law -- Democrats need not worry about what the Republicans think. If anything, passing such reform will strengthen the Democratic Party's image, not weaken it, as millions of Americans will suddenly be able to afford medical coverage without fear of being denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

But this will only happen if the Democrats in Congress grow a spine.