Rich Robinson, Communications Director, Western Washtenaw Democrats, Huffington Post: "The time has come for Congress to step up to the plate over health care reform. President Obama's speech to the joint session put forth his plan--an address 'presented as a societal imperative and a test of the nation's character' according to one TV commentator. The stakes are that high. And all of us 'regular Americans' should support the quest to rein in health care costs, and finally affect some real oversight to the country's health insurance companies.

"This especially applies to those of us in Great Lakes State, where the number of people living without insurance is growing. According to a recent Census Bureau report, last year more than 1.3 million people in Michigan lacked coverage. That represents about 12 percent of the state's population, a jump from 10.5 percent without insurance in 2007, and the numbers could be far worse when the figures of those who recently lost their coverage due to unemployment are factored in.

"President Obama laid out why reform is needed, what his plan will do, and why we as a nation should do this. He noted it has been nearly a century since Theodore Roosevelt (!) first called for reform, and that nearly every president and congress, Democrat or Republican, has tried to fix an inequitable scheme." [Continued]