Within the first five minutes of President Bush’s State of the Union address, I realized that I was listening to his well-chosen and encouraging words, but applying them to matters far removed from his speech.

You see, as chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, I have been distressed by several issues that we are currently facing. So, as President Bush remarked on our fight against global terrorism, I found myself writing down his inspiring words and applying them to our struggle for affordable health care.

Here are a few examples of what the president said about terrorism that can be aptly applied to our

situation in Maine:

“Time is not on our side.”

Whereas the nation has seen an 11 percent increase in the cost of health care, Maine is looking at increases of 30 percent and 40 percent. I recently spoke with a business that was hit with a 47 percent increase in the past year.

The facts are these: We have no individual insurance market in the state. The small group market is collapsing. We sold our large group market to an out-of-state company, and this year we will see rates skyrocket. Only very large corporations in Maine are not in dire straits, because they have economy of scale.

Constituent families who call me point out that they now prefer to gamble on staying healthy rather than spend $300 to $500 a month for an insurance policy with a $5,000 to $10,000 deductible. Others, who are newly unemployed, tell me they have only a time-limited safety net in their COBRA’s policies. Those costs are more than $7,000 a year, which is a great deal, even for an employed family. Many of my constituents simply don’t have that kind of money. And with the numbers getting worse, not better, I believe “time is not on our side.”

“We will not stand by as peril comes closer and closer.”

“Let’s roll” is another sentiment I share with the president. Unfortunately, when it comes to solving our health care crisis, much is not happening. We currently have five different groups in both the public and private sectors that are studying “fixes” to the crisis – a fragmented process to study our fragmented system.

Don’t get me wrong. The people searching for solutions are a talented bunch, and all are working hard. But shouldn’t we all be working together? In some ways, it’s like watching 5-year-olds playing soccer. They all run and run, but everyone is chasing the ball instead of working as a team. In sports memories, this may be funny. But in real life,

it is our friends and neighbors who are on the sidelines, all hoping not to find themselves as patients without health care coverage.

“This job will not be finished on our watch, but it will be waged on our watch.”

There is no quick fix or easy answer to how we bring down the cost of health care and how we cover the more than 170,000 Mainers with no insurance. But if we do not take action now, we will not win the battle for affordable, quality medical care in Maine.

Simply trusting “the competitive marketplace” is not working. Last year, the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission estimated that Maine’s health care bill represented almost 14 percent of Maine’s GSP. In dollar terms, Maine spends almost $5 billion. Members of the task force also estimated that our state’s combined health care costs could double in this next decade.

What we do in the immediate future in our state government will determine what happens as the baby boomers become senior citizens. It will determine how many of our children become dependent on the state government in the future. It will determine whether we close facilities like the struggling Penobscot Bay Medical Center.

“I applaud our unity and resolve.”

Four months after the Sept. 11 attack, Afghanistan has a new government and the United States and our allies have crippled the al-Qaida network. Seven years after President Clinton’s failed attempt to reform health care in America, we are in worse shape than ever. Without a bipartisan effort, no great challenge can be met. When politics are put aside, great deeds can be accomplished.

For every dollar we spend on healthcare in Maine, we get two or even three dollars in federal funds. We will be leaving a great deal of money on the table if we cut the HHS budget. Beyond these monetary figures, what will happen to those who are left without care? Those on Medicare? The mentally ill? Seniors who need prescription drug co-payments? Those in need of home visits or nursing care? Will they simply go away? Of course not. We will continue to have to pay in one way or another. And if we wait until people become increasingly ill or critically dependent, we will pay much more. The same is true if we take away child care or Head Start. Every study in the state and the country reaches the same conclusion.

We should move forward with “unity and resolve” not to make cuts to areas of the budget that affect the health and well being of our citizens.

“We can prevail, and we must act at home with the same purpose.”

It was at this point in the president’s speech when he regained my full attention, as he mentioned tax credits to help people afford health insurance, the Patient’s Bill of Rights, and prescription drug coverage for seniors.

Unfortunately, the federal government is also facing a shortfall. And the president’s budget proposals will make little headway on any of these fronts. The $77 billion he would spend over the next 10 years on drug assistance for low-income elderly people, for example, would not cover a widow living on $13,000 a year. And we have plenty of Mainers in that group.

The state Senate needs to unite and share in the same spirit of cooperation that brought Congress together after Sept. 11. Because both in Maine and in America today, access to health care is “right and true and unchanging for all people everywhere.”

State Sen. Susan Longley of Liberty is co-chair of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee and is a Democratic candidate

for Congress.