Victoria Kennedy Backs Bill

Now that a health care bill has all but passed in the Senate, what would the spiritual godfather of the legislation have to say about accepting a bill without a public option or Medicare buy-in? According to his widow, Ted Kennedy would be behind passing even an imperfect bill. In an op-ed in The Washington Post, Victoria Kennedy writes that her husband had warned of difficult last-minute deals with moderate politicians like Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT). "He predicted that as the Senate got closer to a vote, compromises would be necessary, coalitions would falter and many ardent supporters of reform would want to walk away," she writes. "He hoped that they wouldn't do so. He knew from experience, he told me, that this kind of opportunity to enact health-care reform wouldn't arise again for a generation." According to Kennedy, it "would achieve many of the goals Ted fought for" by expanding insurance coverage to 30 million more Americans, regulating insurance companies, and making health care "a right and not a privilege."