I want to tell you something that's been on my mind as I watch Congress fumble – again – on healthcare.

Last month, House Republicans held a closed-door meeting to hash out their "plan" for dealing with the expiration of key ACA subsidies – subsidies that more than 20 million Americans rely on. And what did they come up with?

A slide deck with ten bullet points, with one bullet literally just saying "innovation." Nowhere – nowhere – was there a plan to protect families from massive premium spikes.

Now that it's January, new increased premiums are coming out of our paychecks and it's the Senate's turn to decide if it will vote on a last-ditch effort to lower your healthcare costs and save your subsidies.

Going into the midterms, let's remember that Republicans have been promising their own healthcare plan since 2010 and, fifteen years later, they still don't have anything close to one.

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So, in honor of over 15 years of only "concepts of a plan," we're taking a look at what this country has achieved in far less time – and the contrast is striking: We built the atomic bomb in just under three years and, when President Kennedy said we would go to the moon, we did it in eight.

The point is this: In less than a decade, America split the atom, mobilized the world's greatest scientific force, invented entire new branches of engineering, and put human beings on the moon. America has done some extraordinary things when those in power really wanted to accomplish something. Yet, somehow, after fifteen years of promising a "better health care plan," Republicans can't even agree amongst themselves what exactly it should look like.

That's not because this particular problem is too hard. It's because Republicans' priorities are too small. So, we're putting up a fight every day to make sure rural America's needs are heard and respected.

Here's the truth: When America decides to solve a big problem, we solve it. We put our minds together, we roll up our sleeves, and we get it done. But the Republican Party has had fifteen years to make healthcare more affordable, and all they've delivered is a Powerpoint slide of buzzwords.

Rural families are paying the price for Republicans' political games. Will you chip in $6 to fight for real health care solutions – and real leadership – in rural America?

Heidi

Heidi Heitkamp, Former U.S. Senator for North Dakota
Founder, One Country Project