Big ideas need time to simmer

Big ideas are not microwavable snacks, instantly ready for American taxpayers to swallow.

They’re more like a pot of grandma’s homemade soup, tested over the years with just the right ingredients, added at the proper time and allowed to simmer to perfection.

So it is with federal health care reform. It is a work in progress.

There have been many attempts to pass sweeping reforms too quickly, and they have all failed. Americans want meaningful change they can afford and reaching that delicate balance takes and careful consideration.

Hopefully, after a major setback in the Massachusetts senate race last month, President Obama, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) will now listen — and proceed more carefully. Rather than throw out our entire health care system, they need to embrace what is working and fix what is not.

Making sure health care is accessible and affordable to all citizens is a common goal we all share — it is neither Democrat nor Republican. People want solutions, not political finger pointing.

They need to remember the old axiom that, for every finger pointing at someone who dares to disagree, there are three fingers pointing back at them.

Americans know that reforming health care won’t be cheap, simple or easy — and it is not without consequences.

While President Obama was right to turn up the heat on the issue, he and Congress need to carefully write, test and enact health care reforms we can afford, rather than handing out hundreds of millions of our tax dollars to get key senate holdout votes like Mary Landrieu (D-La) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb).

Health care reform shouldn’t have an artificially imposed deadline so the president can make it the centerpiece of his state of the union address. Again, take the time to listen to the people who elected the president and Congress and get it right for them.

This isn’t the first time an American president has tackled a mammoth new undertaking.

Like grandma’s homemade soup, President Obama and Congress should turn up the heat gradually, allowing health reforms to develop slowly. Rather than using the credit card to charge for ingredients we cannot afford, we should buy only what is essential. Congress and the president need to remember that, if they turn the flame up too high, health care reform will be ruined yet again, and Americans will get burned big time.

–By Don C. Brunell President, Association of Washington Business