After fighting brain cancer for over a year, Senator Edward Kennedy died last week, leaving behind a rich political legacy and a life-long ambition still facing hurdles on the US Senate floor. With his loss, the US healthcare reform debate now becomes even more visible, albeit still hanging in the balance.
Fighting Brain Cancer for over a year
Senator Kennedy was diagnosed with malignant glioma back in May 2008, a brain cancer that caused a stroke after which he was not able to play a big role in pushing healthcare reform forward. While constantly undergoing treatment at Duke University, he still remained in touch with the reform push through his staff and seems to have had an active role in the process. As Chairman of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee, it was he who brought the health reform bill to the floor of the Senate while undergoing treatment – the same bill that finds itself stuck over a huge political and idealogical battle among the Democratic and Republican parties.
A life ambition to improve healthcare
Sen. Kennedy had long strived towards having the government play a stronger role in taking care of its citizens and over his 46-year-long stint in the political arena, had a great number of successes in improving the healthcare situation in the US. Although he was often criticized for advocating greater government involvement, he has been instrumental on various fronts of public policy, working closely with the Bush government for education and with John McCain on immigration. His life’s dream however was to see an improvement in the way the country delivers healthcare. Now, his loss weakens the Democratic push for healthcare reform probably when it needed his influence the most.
Reform process not likely to change course
Democrats are now raising the alarm, urging the Senate to consider working together as a means to finalize and approve the healthcare bill sooner, but internal differences within the Democratic party still keep their influence weak. Additionally, Sen. Kennedy’s death reduces the Democrats strength materially as they now are one short of a majority in the Senate (59 seats). Even though the rhetoric for building consensus amongboth parties is up, there is less belief that things will change in the near term. With the Senate now in its recess, the impact of Sen. Kennedy’s loss can only be noticed when they return for the continued debate this September.
A vastly influential bill hangs in the balance
The health reform bill is key, not just to the future of the US healthcare system but to the whole economy in general. The more this gets delayed the worse the status quo gets. While most countries around the are recovering from their economic woes, the United States is still struggling within its political and ideological beliefs. Now, with the loss of Sen. Kennedy as the influential figure championing health reform there is a good chance that progress will slow down further.
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Here’s a video from last year where Sen. Kennedy emphasized his life’s dream of reforming healthcare
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrJVbCzJH6c&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
