Marjorie Childress

“So, what do you think about this health care reform business?”

It was a simple question, without a simple answer from the lifelong conservative I asked — my mother. Our conversation took place in the hospital where she was about to get treatment for an irregular heartbeat, paid for by Medicare.

It’s clear she thinks our country has a problem and doesn’t want to say she’s not for reforming our health care system. But it makes her apprehensive. That’s written all over her face.

“I’m not sure it’ll be good, it may reduce my benefits,” she said. “But I know something needs to be done.”

My mom is a lifelong Republican, although these days she’s more likely to refer to herself as an independent. I suspect this recent shift is because, although she didn’t vote for Obama, she’s been influenced for what may only be the second time ever in her life by a Democrat on the topic of health care.

The first time was in 1992 when she voted for the Clinton/Gore ticket solely due to their promise — their utter promise — that they’d usher in a health care system that didn’t cause unrelenting anxiety to middle-class folks like herself and my dad, whose high medical bills in the late 80s caused them financial stress for a good decade.

We all know the story of Clinton/Gore on health care. The bottoming out of Hillary-care ushered in a period of incrementalism that produced some good things — like SCHIP — but did nothing to right the trajectory of a health care system on a fast track to bankruptcy.

Then Bill Clinton’s personal peccadillos went public and my mother high-tailed it back to the Republicans. But still, she’s from a family that has had to do a lot juggling to cover the costs of varied health care needs.

Most Americans say health care reform is necessary

The health care reform message, ultimately, resonates with most Americans, including her. And here we are again, on the one topic that seems to generally bring convergence in my family, between the dyed-in-the-wool Republicans and those who embrace our yellow-dog Democrat heritage.

Despite the “tea party” activists who’ve successfully mobilized a very vocal, very public contingent of people expressing fear and demanding the “return of our country,” both here in New Mexico and nationally, the majority of Americans support a health care fix. And that majority includes moderate Republicans like my mother.

A CNN opinion poll conducted August 28-31 found that 52 percent of Americans want U.S. legislators to continue trying to find consensus on the current health care reform bills before Congress. Another 25 percent told CNN they want Congress to begin again, on entirely new bills that would be passed next year.

That’s 77 percent of the American public telling CNN that health care reform is necessary. 65 percent of those polled told CNN that the problems with the current health care system will eventually affect most Americans if they aren’t fixed. 59 percent said they understood the current health care proposals, up from 51 percent in June — which perhaps reflects the intense education that occurred during the congressional recess. And 55 percent favor a public health insurance option.

These numbers show that the momentum that Barack Obama leveraged to push Congress to take up health care reform includes members of both parties as well as that coveted set of self-described independent voters.

Where are the Republican senators?

The question, then, is where are the Republican senators? It seems there’s one, Olympia Snowe, who is willing to be a voice for my mother.

Where are the rest?

Systemic reform simply isn’t something that Republicans have shown a willingness to tackle, even when so many of their own party recognize the need for it. After all, they had control of Congress for 12 years, with six of those years being in conjunction with a Republican president. During that time, our health care system became progressively less sustainable.

Maybe that’s why on this topic, senators like our own Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall really are representing all Americans, not just those Democrats who make them their nominee in the primary.

I hope they and their Democratic colleagues take that to heart as they continue their debate this week. If they can’t find any Republicans in their body willing to represent all Americans, they should embrace the go-it-alone approach — and get us concretely on the path to a health care system that works.

Bipartisanship only takes you so far, especially in a country in which so many people don’t fit all that well in either party.

Childress writes about politics for the New Mexico Independent, and for m-pyre, a local blog founded in 2004. She also works for the SouthWest Organizing Project. Views expressed in this column are solely her own, and do not reflect the positions or opinions of any organization or person she is affiliated with. You can reach Childress at mrchili9@gmail.com.

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