[Editors note - Originally posted Thu, 04/10/2008 - 16:30. Bumping and promoting the important news that Elizabeth Edwards is rejoining the national discussion on the very important issue of health care. (standingup) and (carol white)]

Reposted in full with permission from the author, TomP

We need universal health care in this nation. Nyceve has written about it extensively. (Read the NYCEVE diaries here). Many kossaks, like myself, have long supported single payer. Last year, John Edwards came out with a universal health care plan that was a road to single payer.

Elizabeth Edwards spoke about universal health care on Olberman last night.

Elizabeth Edwards is right.

Seems like State Senatory John Marty (DFL) may be carrying on the tradition of Paul Wellstone. Browsing here, I learned that a bill mandating universal health care coverage for all Minnesotans, that Marty has sponsored, is being debated and has a chance of being passed by the Mn, legislature.

A 2004 case against the insurer, Health Net, was just settled in favor of a California beautician. Her insurance was cancelled on the pretext that she had an unrevealed heart condition and was overweight. Worth reading in its entirety, Health Net Ordered to Pay $9 Million After Canceling Cancer Patient's Policy by Lisa Girion, La Times.

Sara Robinson lives in Canada (Vancouver) but travels to the United States frequently and I think is a US citizen. It doesn't matter to what follows, except that she has experience with health care in both countries. She has written an excellent on TomPaine.com that also appears on alternet, 10 Myths About Canadian Health Care, Busted. She has put together a comparison between the two medical systems, the US and Canada, that will be especiable valuable in the general election. It came as no surprise to me that in compares favorable with the system we have here.

promoted by Carol. I recommend not missing the end which gives a very personal perspective of what the Edwards campaign represents.

When you ask people who are the Great American Presidents, you are likely to get a lot of different answers -- JFK, FDR, Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, among others.

But why do People name them? What did they do that was extraordinary?

All Presidents face challenges -- but why do some of them "rise to the occasion, and excel beyond all expectations?"

What is it that makes them Leaders?

While people are focused on universal care, the Bush Administration is incrementally chipping away at our existing public health safety net. The most recent assault on our public health care infrastructure is escaping the notice of mainstream media and citizen journalists alike, probably because it is not easily explained. I am referring to a proposed arcane regulations change by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) which, if enacted, will result in $4 to $5 billion dollars over 5 years in cuts to public hospitals and other hospitals that serve indigent patients. In addition, CMS is proposing other rules changes that will result in billions of dollars of reductions to teaching hospitals.

These hospitals serve as the backbone of our public health safety net, train the next generation of physicians and health care professionals, and are essential to any kind of response to disaster, terrorist attack or pandemic outbreak. Without them, our already frayed public health infrastructure may disintegrate.