Expanding Health Care Is Good Policy and Good Politics

By John Bouman

The reelection of Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois showed the country that fighting for expanded health care is not only good policy; it’s good politics. The political lesson should not be lost on politicians in other parts of the country. The attractive politics has produced, beyond Illinois’s All Kids program, Gov. Ed Rendell’s Cover All Kids program in Pennsylvania and Gov. Mitt Romney’s universal coverage plan in Massachusetts, both of which were enacted this year.

Expanding health care coverage is not only the right thing to do; it’s good political strategy. It demonstrates to Democrats and Republicans, who equally agonize at their kitchen tables over the health care crisis, that the politician not only “gets it” but also is willing to lead.

Blagojevich’s road to reelection was not a smooth one. He was criticized for the ways he planned to pay for his legislative agenda. He was beset by corruption cases that implicated individuals close to his office. He faced a well-funded moderate in a state that has had no one but moderate Republican governors since 1977. Yet Blagojevich accurately assessed that his proven record on health care would be strong enough to overshadow those difficulties and help him win. He was right.

Thanks to Blagojevich’s efforts, Illinois is arguably the national leader in expanding health care coverage. Having already won for Illinois the Kaiser Family Foundation’s No. 1 ranking for expanding health care to working families, Blagojevich signed into law on November 15, 2005, the All Kids Program to extend health insurance to every child in Illinois regardless of income or status—the first state in the nation to do so.

Should we be surprised that this health care record is politically potent? The issue of health care coverage affects the lives of ordinary citizens on a daily basis. There is a consensus among voters in Illinois and the rest of the nation that the everyday reality of the health care crisis is a curable problem if politicians lead.

It is no wonder then that, in an exceedingly negative campaign, one of the few issues that Blagojevich’s opponent, Judy Baar Topinka, did not attack him on was his health care record. By all accounts, Governor Blagojevich not only ran on the issue of health care coverage, he staked his career on it, and the voters validated that decision.

People want action, there are already many success stories, and it can be done if there is political will to do it. If there ever was any doubt that health care is both good policy and good politics, it was swept away last week with the over 1.6 million votes cast for Governor Blagojevich and his health care record.