Where does health care reform go from here?

What's the next step in the health care reform process? Well, despite passionate debate that sometimes has not reflected the best the United States has to offer, it has to go in the direction of universal health insurance. Here's why:

The U.S.'s current health care system has led to the worst care rate and the worst cost structure among advanced, industrialized democracies. One can quibble about the forecast, but a good estimate puts the number of Americans without health insurance at 45-47 million, and increasing at a rate of 450,000-500,000 per month.

Among these, an estimated 10-12 million routinely access initial health care at hospital emergency rooms, and their costs are passed on by hospitals to paying patients, corporations, and insurers. If not addressed, this systemic flaw, combined with rising costs for Medicaid, Medicare, and other inefficiencies, will balloon the federal budget deficit and push corporate health insurance premiums to stratospheric levels.