... answered for a few

Some 180,000 North Carolinians are estimated to qualify for an insurance program of last resort established more than a year ago by the General Assembly. The basic idea is that people who have pre-existing conditions that make it virtually impossible for them to buy or afford regular health insurance need an option -- even though the N.C. Health Insurance Risk Pool is expensive and has limited benefits. Still, it's considerably better than having no insurance and facing likely bankruptcy in the event of serious illness.

So far, 222 people have been accepted in the program, where the average premium is $554 a month and nearly half of participants have chosen the highest-deductible, lowest-premium option.

This program was a long time coming, and it now will be pressed because of the unemployment problems that are one manifestation of the national economic crisis. Joblessness often means loss of health insurance. Let us hope the risk pool will cover as many people as possible, though it won't cover nearly enough of them.

The truth is, this program is yet another indication of the need for national health care reform that would provide affordable insurance options and lower drug prices -- a major factor in health care problems -- in this country.

President-elect Obama hit a true note with the American people with his promise for reform, and the push is likely to continue, and should. It's time to put America's health care system within reach of millions of people who are at the mercy of insurance and drug companies that have thrown around their money, and the weight it gives them with politicians, to protect their profits no matter what. But there's discontent in the land, and the people have had enough.