We are entering a finish line for health reform in America. Last November, we presented our view in many newspapers that, millions of Americans with little money choose to, or are forced to, not seek health care because they are uninsured or underinsured.

Worse still, Americans live alone among developed nations with the reality that patients with “pre-existing” conditions who must switch insurance companies are denied the insured care they need to survive.

Most important, we believe that as a nation we should be dedicated to addressing “our” needs as a country first. Right or wrong, we are old-fashioned enough not to see America as a gathering of selfish individuals who fear that at all times our own government will want to steal our individual freedoms. Sometimes, government from a left or right wing perspective will remove some of them for good or ill: adding taxes, forms of censorship, enforcing gun control or taking it away.

However, most of us intend to utilize the publicly funded health option called Medicare or the Social Security we were taxed for every year on our form 1040. We want the option to have our children schooled with public funds as well as possible. Most of us want an efficient and uncorrupt police force.

And we should want our children, grandchildren, parents and ourselves to have the ability to pay for insured medical care. Much as Presidents Nixon and Truman unsuccessfully did.

There are no tiny steps that will work; we need a law that ensures that at least a lot more Americans under 65 can get medical care. If an estimated 30 million uninsured can get covered under the already-passed Senate bill, then that covers perhaps two-thirds of the uninsured.

There will be no death panels, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates cost containment of policies will increase over the long term, not costs. The same office projects that, in our opinion with luck, the bill will not increase our debt

The bill, particularly with President Obama’s suggested tax deductions and his proposed law to regulate insurance increases, may mean that a middle class person paying their own insurance bill can afford to buy an insurance policy with a $500 or $1000 deductible instead of a $10,000.

We strongly believe that it is time to pass a reconciled health care bill, based largely on the bill that passed the Senate last December and hopefully with some of President Obama’s cushions to protect Americans from the costs of having to insure.

Including a public health option as an option would go a long way to containing health costs by introducing an alternative institution, but a bill should be passed whether it is there or not and states can seek, like Massachusetts, to develop such options.

There will be many Congressional sessions to revisit and fine tune individual provisions. In recent days, the majority of the House joined together in a bipartisan manner to repeal the anti-trust exemption of insurance companies and the Senate with Republican support approved a jobs bill. Doing the right thing can happen in a bipartisan manner, but so far with health care, it has not been an option. So, let’s get the job done. We sincerely hope that you will contact your representatives and senators and tell them so, in your own words.

Walter Wick is vice president of Wick Communications Co., and Robert Wick is secretary-treasurer, owners of this newspaper.