Like most of you, I've been watching the debate over healthcare reform with heightened interest. First and foremost, as an American, I know that any change to our healthcare system likely will have a profound effect on not just on me, but my family and our future generations. Adding to my interest-and consternation-is the simple fact that as publisher of Hospital News, I am intimately (and fiscally!) connected to the healthcare system that could be radically altered-for better or worse.

That's why I find it disconcerting to watch how this process and the necessary debate is unfolding in Washington, DC, as well as countless small towns and big cities throughout America during August Town hall meetings, which, ideally, should provide a forum for citizens to express their questions and concerns about the proposed healthcare legislation. Instead, they have become nothing more than shouting matches whose end result is to further galvanize opposing positions.

To be fair, I don't think the U.S. House of Representatives helped the process from the beginning by producing the now-infamous "1,000-page bill" that most elected officials admitted they weren't likely to read and, even if they would, were also not likely to understand.

Such a foolhardy decision-intentional or not-to obfuscate the proposed legislation guaranteed that friend and foe alike to the idea of reform could twist the bill to be anything they wanted it to be: from a finely crafted, detailed work of genius to an ambiguous Trojan Horse hiding the real intent of its authors, which is to steal liberty right out from under us.

Add to that what has become a staple of American discourse-crowd pandering and fear mongering by anyone with a blog, a column, or a television show-and we could have predicted the reaction: an angry, frightened, and confused populace, worked into a red hot frenzy, just waiting to rip into an elected official, any elected official, to prevent the good ol' U S of A from plummeting head long into a pit of Socialism. (And we used to think Groucho Marx's rendition of "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It" was funny in its exaggeration.)

But here's the problem. Lost in the din of the shouting and rampant misinformation spewed is a basic American ideal of helping our neighbor in need. That's now been replaced by the idea of letting everyone worry about himself or herself.

It's ironic to hear some of the same senior citizens say they fear any healthcare reform that includes a role for government who they happily flash their Medicare cards when needing treatment and cash their Social Security checks because, well, they're entitled.

It's also troubling to hear some who are opposed to the proposed legislation warn about "death panels"-knowing full well the frightening image this invokes-when, in the same breath, they admit they don't understand the bill.

Am I advocating for passage of the legislation as proposed? Not at all. Count me among the millions of Americans-including most of our Congressmen and Senators-who haven't read it. But what I am advocating is this. First, let's encourage-no, let's demand-from everyone, including our elected officials, a return to civility. Let's look at common ground first, such as what seems to be a majority opinion that our healthcare system can be improved for the good of all Americans. Whether that improvement demands a complete overhaul or just some fine tuning is yet to be determined. But we'll never reach common ground if we've dug our heels too far into the mud.

And finally, let's begin this process in the spirit of that guiding principle I mentioned earlier: to care for each other. Just that small step would go a long way toward improving healthcare for all Americans and securing the overall health of our nation.

Harvey D. Kart