By Arturo Mora, Kansas City Star Midwest Voices columnist 2009

With the first big Senate vote set for Saturday on Senator Harry Reid’s version of healthcare reform, America inches closer to joining the rest of the developed world with a responsible healthcare system. It’s been a hard slog, but it was never going to be easy given the religious fervor in some circles about the sacred free market system. Once the task is done, however, it’s time for President Obama to laser beam on jobs, jobs, jobs. And furthermore, jobs.

The time was right to do it. In fact to not do it this year, rough economy or not, would have been unconscionable. The stars were as aligned as they’ll ever be: new President, overwhelming House majority, a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate (they hope). To wait for a “better” opportunity would have been folly, possible delaying reform for decades. There is no “better time” in a nation as divided as this one is about the role of government. The only “better time” is when you finally have the President and congressional numbers to get it done. That’s now.

That said, this rough economy gave the small government camp the hammer they needed to try to beat this reform down. Of course, it was their own anti-regulatory passion that brought that hammer down upon us in the first place, but that irony is lost on them.

The Republican Party was never going to support this, for a variety of reasons, part cynically political, part ideological, part sincerely concerned for our nation. Since I can’t see into men’s or women’s hearts, I can’t judge what percentage of each. Politics being politics, I have my suspicons about the first part.

Cynical or not, they’ve got a winning horse they intend to ride into November 2010. If the unemployment rate stays over 10%, the great Democratic dream of not losing too many seats is out the window, and a Republican takeover of the House becomes at least a possibility (remote in my view).

It’s time for Obama to realize voters want their bread buttered, or at least some bread on the table. No bread, no votes, and rightly so. In the best of times there might have been a strong citizen movement for healthcare reform. But when your job is at risk, truth be told, you probably care a lot less about fixing healthcare. This is not totally logical behavior, since if you lose your job, healthcare in our current system can become quite a stressful personal issue. But it’s human nature to worry about your own interest first, shortsighted or not.

Without mass support, it’s more a movement of progressive activists, in battle against conservative activists. The battle is for the vast middle and independents. Guess where they lean in a tough economy?

So it’s a miracle the reform has gotten this far. Reid’s bill is a smart piece of work. It handles the abortion issue better, for one. It pretty much keeps to the status quo, as opposed to the horrid House amendment that would change it. Pro-lifers are trying to hijack this legislation for their purposes, and they need to be stopped. Yes, public money should not be used to finance abortions. But the flip side is that health insurance reform should not result in the de facto outlawing of a practice (abortion) that is protected by current law.

The Senate version of the public option—allowing states to vote themselves out of it—is a reasonable compromise, and probably the only way to overcome a filibuster.

It’ll be interesting to see, if this is passed by the Senate, how the paying for it part gets worked out in the House-Senate conference. The House wants a surtax on the rich—a fair idea considering the loads of benefits they got under the Bush tax boondoggle. The Senate wants a Medicare payroll tax increase on the rich, taxes on high-end insurance policies, taxes on cosmetic medical procedures, and fees on insurance and medical device companies.

All are good ideas, so why not work in a mixture of them, except maybe lessen the tax on insurance policies, and really pay for this thing? The other part of paying for it—empty promises of Medicare cuts—is a shell game at best, a load of deceptive crap at worst.

For one, the cuts are not automatic. Future presidents and legislators, fearing the wrath of the elderly, can easily wimp out on them, and probably will. They should be more honest about paying for this. Either make the cuts automatic, or minimize their portion and increase the other parts (taxes and fees).

That, of course, would require a backbone, something not very common in today’s politicians.