Guest Post: Chairman Tim Kaine on Attending President Obama's Health Care Town Hall in Virginia

Today I was honored to join President Obama at the health care town hall at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, VA. The room was packed with kids and parents, students and seniors.

The President answered questions from the audience, as well as from people who had submitted their queries via Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. He made a strong case for reform, by reminding folks in the room of his three principles -- lowering costs, preserving patient choice and expanding access to quality, affordable care – and reiterated his commitment to a public option, a health insurance exchange and a fiscally responsible, deficit neutral plan. He said he wouldn’t accept the status quo and is dedicated to enacting health care reform this year.

Our broken health care system is something I’ve had to face every single day as the Governor of Virginia. We’ve been able to do some great things, but families and businesses in Virginia struggle with the high costs of care as much as anyone in this nation. Think about this: 1 in 7 Virginians doesn’t have health insurance; and since 2000, average family premiums have increased by 99 percent.

As powerful as those numbers are, I think the most powerful case for reform are real stories – stories of people who can’t afford insurance, are denied care because of a pre-existing condition, lose insurance coverage when they lose their job, or have been forced into bankruptcy to take care of a sick child or elderly parent. Over the past several weeks, we’ve collected hundreds of thousands of these stories. Have you read them? You can, here. Have you seen them? Here are five web videos we’ve released over the past couple of weeks: Kristine, Cesar, Cathy, Lisa and Russell.

Reforming our health care system will be hard; and, as the President has said so many times before, if it were easy we would’ve done it already. Sure, the details need to be worked out, and yes, we will have to work hard to get reform that lowers costs, preserves choice and expands access. But the Obama administration has already had success in lining up support from groups that have opposed reform in the past -- pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers, insurance companies and doctors associations. If you consider that millions of people are calling for reform because they won’t accept our broken system for any longer, and if you remember that President Obama has demonstrated incredible leadership and commitment to this issue – you will believe, as I do, that we can pass health care reform this year.

Here's how to get involved and do your part to enact comprehensive reform.

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