Although we may not believe that a lack of progress on health care reform would be the only determining factor to keep young voters out of the polls in this year’s mid-term elections, our friend Jesse Singal makes an excellent point about the impact the Millennial generation has at the polls, our overwhelming support for health care reform, and how its failure could exacerbate youth voter apathy:

Here’s something that should make David Axelrod nervous: there are probably more Yankees fans in Massachusetts than there are young people who voted in the Massachusetts Senate special election, which cost the Democrats their filibuster-proof supermajority. Just 15 percent of eligible voters under age 30 participated. The numbers were similarly dismal during two other Republican electoral victories from last fall. In the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races, just 17 and 19 percent of potential young voters participated, respectively.

This wasn’t just a fluke trifecta of uninspiring elections. It is, rather, part of a nationwide trend toward apathy among Americans under 30. Harvard’s Institute of Politics (IOP), which regularly polls young people on political issues, found last fall that just 24 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds said that they were “politically engaged or politically active,” a 19-point drop from a year earlier. This could mean trouble down the road for a Democratic Party that may have begun taking the youth vote for granted. Young voters, after all, turned out in record numbers for the 2008 election, and if they hadn’t, Obama might not be in the White House. But if Democrats don’t pass health-care reform, youth turnout may plummet.

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President Obama reignited his campaign days as he spoke on many issues burdening our country last night. He put Senate Democrats and Republicans in their place, and had some teeth in his remarks toward the party that has made  their goal of this Congressional session to block every effort of putting this country back on track. However, he said almost 3,500 words before speaking on one of the most pressing issues we are facing today: health care. In my opinion, he should have addressed it earlier in his speech, especially before making it clear that his new focus is jobs creation, as if health care reform is now old news.  He only spent about five minutes talking about health care, and some reform advocates complain that his words were not strong enough and his marching orders not precise enough. But I will give him a bit of a break. I think –when he finally did reach the issue of health care reform– he was clear, concise and to the point. Congress is not stupid (even if some days and for some members, we may beg to differ). Congress knows health care reform needs to pass this year. Our representatives know that if we wait, premiums will continue to rise,  the number of uninsured will reach about 54 million by 2019, and our health expenditures will double.  They know what they have to do. They just needed a firm direction from Obama; one that made clear that health care reform will not be postponed and will not fail after coming this far. And I believe he made that crystal clear:

After nearly a century of trying, we are closer than ever to bringing more security to the lives of so many Americans…By the time I’m finished speaking tonight, more Americans will have lost their health insurance. Millions will lose it this year. Our deficit will grow. Premiums will go up. Patients will be denied the care they need. Small business owners will continue to drop coverage altogether. I will not walk away from these Americans, and neither should the people in this chamber.

The debate over the last several weeks, however, has centered around not only whether to move forward, but how. There are several routes Congress could take to pass some sort of reform legislation. But as our President put it so eloquently last night:

Let’s try common sense.

I believe Congress knows that the smartest way out of the pickle we now find ourselves in with this health care bill is to pass the Senate bill and then pass a “clean up” bill through reconciliation (or in order to guarantee the changes that the House wants, they could pass the “clean up” bill first and then pass the Senate bill) which would improve significant provisions like switching from the Senate’s proposed state-by-state health insurance exchanges to the House’s proposed national health insurance exchange, which would ensure stronger consumer protections when shopping for a health insurance plan. This method has been the most popular among Congressional members thus far, and Speaker Pelosi has hinted that she would have the votes to make it happen.

President Obama even addressed those that are opposing every option of moving forward with health care to come to him with a better alternative:

But if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know.

The key thing to take away from last night’s speech was not that it seemed as if health care reform is so last year and job creation is now the new focus, but that we need to get health care reform passed now so that we can begin the path to recovery within our health care system (and trust me it will be a long road, but we have to take the first step) and then move on to other equally important issues like unemployment and drowning in the deficit, to name a few. It has been long enough, as Obama stated perfectly:

How long should we wait?  How long should America put its future on hold?

For more on health care and young people, visit www.campusprogress.org/healthcare

“We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it”- President Barack Obama

The President gave this quote at the end of his joint address to Congress on health care last night. He was referring to the apprehension by some to move forward with a bold health care plan and maybe to the opponents who have been reverting to the usual fear-mongering in an attempt to block reform. Well, Obama made it clear last night that he is not backing down.

“I am not the first President to take up [health care], but I am determined to be the last.” – President Obama

Americans around the country tuned in to watch the joint address last night (while some childish members of Congress did their best to tune out).  It was a long awaited speech, not just for reform supporters this year, but for health care reform advocates that have been fighting for decades to fix our broken health care system.

Last night we saw the President step firmly into the health care debate and bring clarity to the madness that has begun to encircle health care discussions.

Obama clearly discussed what his health care plan means for Americans:

• Security and stability for the insured
• Choice of quality, affordable coverage for the uninsured
• Choice and competition in an insurance exchange, including a government-run public plan option
• Lowering costs with subsidies to low-income Americans and tax credits to small businesses

Obama also firmly stated that “he will not sign a plan that adds one dime to the deficit.”

In a letter delivered posthumously from Senator Ted Kennedy, a life-long health care advocate, he wrote “You will be the President who at long last signs into law the health care reform that is the great unfinished business of our society.”

The President not only outlined his solid plan for health care reform, but he aggressively set the record straight on the lies and misleading information being spread by reform opponents. The childish antics of those opponents were proven once again during his address, as Rep. Wilson(R-SC) yelled out “You Lie!” while Obama spoke of the false information circling the issue of immigrants gaining coverage under reform. Other members behaved as if they were in a 5th grade classroom and held up signs, heckled and booed, and waved around copies of the health care bill…Speaker Pelosi looked as if she were about to jump over the podium and ream someone out.

Rep. Gohmert (R- TX) acting childish during the President's address

However, we didn’t hear any mention of young people in Obama’s speech (at least not in a positive light!), heard nothing about addressing racial and ethnic health disparities, and unfortunately directly after he (thankfully) mentioned the demand for a public option, he slightly back stepped saying it could be in the form of co-ops or only implemented in certain markets. That’s not going to be good enough.

But overall, Obama kicked ass and probably gave the best joint address to Congress we’ve seen in a while.

It was quite the way to kick off Congress being back in session. Members have already delved right back into work, with word from the Senate Finance Committee today that the Chairman’s mark on their reform bill was released. Unfortunately, the bill does not look so great and will still have no GOP support even though Baucus has  been bending over backwards to work with Sen. Grassley, the ranking Republican on the committee, to gain support.

These next couple months may be tough, but as Obama indicated, we’re not scared – we’re ready to shape things up. It’s time to pass health care reform and change the future for our generation. Let’s get to work.