We all hear “Presidents Day” and think “Washington and Lincoln.” Banks and post offices are closed and for some, another well deserved federal holiday. But that’s just habit.

This year, we might do well to remember another group of presidents–those who have done their best to establish a better health care system for the nation. Every president for the past 75 years has been part of the struggle, yet we still have a system that not only bankrupts individual citizens without regard, it decimates state budgets and paralyzes the federal government from making substantive improvements to the nation’s economy.

While Lyndon Johnson gets much of the credit for getting Medicare and Medicaid passed into law, the true hero of Medicare was John F. Kennedy, who worked, negotiated, and hammered out a solution that would help Americans – and actually found a way to get it approved by Congress.

Medicare has worked fairly well for fifty years—but at the time, the same doubts were voiced that we are hearing today—the bill’s imperfections were too great. At a rally in New York to support health care for the elderly, Kennedy confronted the question: “We’ve got great unfinished business in this country,” he said, “and while this bill does not solve our problems in this area, I do not believe it is a valid argument to say ‘This bill isn’t going to do the job.’ It will not, but it will do part of it.”

The comprehensive health care reform we need today is even more critical than when Kennedy spoke those words in 1962. No, it may not be entirely accomplished by the plans now being discussed in Congress. Yes, it’s imperfect, but the cost of doing nothing is unacceptable. Turning our backs now, when we have a solid plan that insures over 90 percent of Americans; that bends the health care cost curve; that brings down premiums and that strengthens Medicare for seniors, is simply irresponsible. This plan is the closest we’ve ever come to true reform.

There’s no need to give up. Let’s call upon Congress to deliver a bill to the President in recognition of President’s Day. Moreover, for all the presidents before him who have fought tirelessly to get Americans a health care system that will move us one step closer to handling this country’s “unfinished business.”

What do you thing has been the most significant achievement in reforming health care up until now, and which President do you think gets the most credit?”