Yesterday, the Remote Area Medical Foundation is finished up an 8 day stint at the Forum in Inglewood. While in LA, the Tennessee based health care provider has brought its brand of free health care for rural communities to one of America's largest cities. Medical services at the clinic ran the gambit, from dentistry to HIV tests, but the message was clear: no matter what services patients were there to receive -- our health care system needs changing.

Reports from the clinic spoke of people traveling from as far away as Phoenix and San Francisco just to receive treatment. Others slept in their cars. Still more camped out on the street, all for the simple opportunity to talk to a doctor. And then there were the hundreds of people that were turned away. In short, while the work the Remote Area Medical Foundation is doing is truly a modern day miracle, the necessity of its existence is also a National embarrassment.

The burden the crisis of the uninsured places on our health care system is enormous, and it underscores the millions of Americans who are starved for affordable coverage but do not have access to it. This is why, as the debate in Washington has increasingly shifted away from focusing on the people we are trying to help, and towards the same old partisan semantics we've seen for years, it's time to take a fresh approach.

For those of us here in Los Angeles, the medical clinic must serve as a wake up call. It should remind us all of what this debate is actually about. It's not about a public option vs. a co-op system. It's not about Republicans "beating" the President, or Democrats in Congress "shoving this legislation" through over the cries of Republicans adverse to change. It's about 47 million people in America. It's about their quality of life.

Inaction is not an option.

--Newell for Congress Campaign