I’m not a pundit.

But I play one on the internets.

I suppose it’s easy to look back and find all the faults with the way health care reform was handled by President Obama, Congress, and The Senate. So, here’s my perspective.

I believe the focus that they chose was completely off-base. Sure, it’s staggering how many citizens of this country are without any type of health care coverage, and if you only had to appeal to me and my bleeding-heart liberal friends that would be an excellent point to make over and over. But, the choir of bleeding-heart liberals is not who President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Leader Reid should be preaching to on health care reform.

If true health care reform was their goal, they should have had a laser-like focus on the plight of small business in the health insurance maelstrom and the economic ramifications of not fixing the current broken health care system.

In my relatively diverse circle of friends I know of at least a dozen talented, capable, and smart people who have the ideas and abilities to start small businesses. Few are willing to take the risky leap to entrepreneurship largely due to navigating the even riskier landscape of health insurance for small business. With rates already out of control, threats of fees for “cadillac” plans (don’t even get me started on this); and annual rate increases double and triple that of inflation why would anyone give up affordable coverage provided by their employer? Starting a business is enough of a challenge without fat-cat insurance executives reaching deeper and deeper in your pocket every year in order to fund their mcmansions, yachts, and private jets.

There seems to be a universal understanding that as the post-WWII generation (baby boomers, if you must) ages the demands on and costs of health insurance will become a larger and larger piece of the US economy. Trimming costs and improving the health of my generation are win-win solutions to the coming crisis. The predictions vary on what percentage of our retirement income will got to health care, but no matter who you listen to, they are shocking.

Sadly, the past year has given us a round-up of individuals who lost their life savings and homes because of an illness; families with desperately ill children unable to afford treatment; and endless stories of wealthy executives getting rich off the suffering of the ill. These examples are powerful – and my choir responds to them every time. But, hey, President Obama, you don’t need me – you had me at “Hope”.