To Members of the United States Congress and President Obama:

The undersigned public health advocates write to urge that you make finishing work on comprehensive health reform legislation your top priority in the coming weeks.

Congress has come further than ever before to passing comprehensive and affordable health reform legislation with an emphasis on changing from a system that focuses on treating the sick to one that focuses on keeping people healthy. We must expand affordable health insurance coverage to those who are uninsured, provide funding for public health and prevention activities, implement much needed insurance and coverage reforms, strengthen the Medicare system and enhance the health care and public health workforce. While the political dynamics of passing a bill may be challenging, we cannot allow politics to derail the much needed reform the American people need and deserve.

The problems with our health system are only getting worse: the uninsured still die prematurely at unacceptable rates by the thousands; wellness and preventive care is often not available; the economics of the current system still do not work for individuals, business or government; the value we get for the cost is highly variable. Each day that Congress and the Administration fail to act, more people will lose their job and access to employee-sponsored health care and the problems and stresses on our health system will only get worse.

We understand that the current proposals before Congress may not be the perfect solution, but it represents an enormous step forward. With health care costs growing at a record rate, we cannot afford to wait any longer to finalize legislation on comprehensive affordable health reform. We urge you to move forward without further delay.

Sincerely,