Since people are dying while they dither over health care- here are 2 immediate actions

that they ought to pass as an interim or even permenent solutions for some people:

1. Eliminate the fact the Cobra plans automatically expire after 18 months - allow people to carry them indefinitely as long as they want or need to.

2. Lower the age of Medicare eligibility to 55 as President Clinton suggested 11 YEARS ago. This would cover a number of older Americans who have lost their jobs and find it very very difficult to find new ones in this economy combined with covert age discrimination. Read the link below to see how NOTHING has changed since this old debate.
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/18/us/clinton-pushes-plan-for-medicare-at-age-55.html

These ideas are simple and would provide coverage immediately for millions falling through the cracks right now. I wonder if they could be done as executive orders?

Allowing Medicare eligibility at 55 has many benefits. Many people who want to retire, but can't because of loss of insurance, could retire, leaving job openings for younger out of work people. Some of us may want to change employers or careers, giving us the freedom we're told we have, but can't actually exercise.

that have said they wish they could have Medicare but they aren't old enough. People like Medicare and trust it. That's why I think "Medicare for everyone" is such a good idea and a good selling point for the public. They see that it worked for their grandparents, it's working for their parents and they want it too!

--what you are suggesting is a useful way to go.

even with the current payment assistance it's too expensive for most who have lost their jobs to pick it up.

For many people, losing their job and then finding out what their Cobra cost would be, is a shocking eye opener. A lot of people just don't seem to realize that while they may have been having a couple hundred taken out of their paychecks a month as their portion of the costs, that the employer may have been paying double or triple their contribution.

People who don't pay attention might think that Cobra is just a continuation of their costs, but it isn't - you pick up the ENTIRE tab, including what had previously been the employer portion. So your healthcare costs usually go through the roof on Cobra. But still, if it's your only choice and you have a family member in the midst of a current health crisis, it's better than not having insurance.

every time someone from their district dies from lack of adequate health care coverage.

I don't understand why people think that one person or a small group can write a health care reform bill (or any other law) and just get it passed in the House and Senate with no obstacles. It's not that simple, and it's not how congress works. And before you say, "well it should be," remember that it would work the same way for Republican-written bills.

If people don't understand by now how congress works (Bill Maher), they should probably just shut up instead of making fools of themselves. Bill thinks Obama should just "ram" a health care bill through Congress. Really? With what votes? We don't even have all Democrats on board with one plan. Trying to ram his own bill through Congress didn't work out too well when Clinton tried it. And here we still are 17 years later with no health care reform.

To imply they aren't doing anything when everyone knows health care is being worked on as we speak, it just false and frankly, stupid. If you don't like the final proposed bill, then bitch away. And I'll join you. But we might want to actually see what they come up with first.