Gene Lyons

While Obama's noted cautiousness leads me to believe he will do little about the health care crisis, Gene Lyons believes he should do as much as possible and ignore the neoliberals and others who would sabotage such needed reforms:

Policies purchased through the Health Insurance Exchange would be completely portable. Changing or losing your job wouldn't affect health care. As Baucus, a relatively conservative Democrat, pointed out in announcing it, far from competing with attempts to improve the U.S. economy, "health reform is an essential part of restoring America's economy and maintaining our competitiveness."

During his primary campaign against Hillary Clinton, Obama did some shameless pandering on the topic of mandated universal health insurance. In accepting the Democratic nomination, however, he movingly recalled watching "my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer." He vowed "affordable, accessible health care for every single American."

The need's immense; the time is now. Odds are that Obama will never be politically stronger than on the day he takes office.

Since health care is a right, not a privilege, there should be no employer-based health care. Sure, people without jobs can in theory still have their employer health insurance for up to 18 months, but COBRA is completely worthless unless one was very well-paid in his or her job. People can't afford $500- or $1,000-a-month or more premiums.