Federal legislators, who enjoy their own health insurance and access to medical care, should work to accomplish healthcare reform instead of trying to derail it.

Some of these politicians are losing sight of the millions of Americans – including 9 million children – who are uninsured. Eight out of 10 uninsured Americans are in working families.

The lack of health insurance and its affordability hits Latinos especially hard. Hispanics are more likely to be uninsured than any other racial or ethnic group.

Of course, there are legitimate concerns about healthcare reform, among them how to pay for an overhaul. Republicans and some Democrats have criticized what seem to be the mammoth costs of a healthcare reform proposal that would include a public insurance option by the federal government.

Legislators must identify ways of keepings costs down without compromising quality. But looking at the Senate Finance Committee's health plan in its context also offers some perspective on costs and reform.

The Urban Institute's Health Policy Center points out that a $1.6 trillion estimate of the health plan represents costs over a 10-year period. That would be one percent of the nation's GDP over that time.

The Center also notes that this estimate by the Congressional Budget Office does not factor in public and private savings that could result. Some individuals who are now shelling out burdensome out-of-pocket payments for care would pay less in a reformed system.

And overall, the costs of no reform against the growing number of uninsured would be huge.

In a bid to frame Obama as reckless spender, Republicans are pushing back against his attempts to reform healthcare. This politics-over-policy approach is no solution for the 46 million uninsured Americans, who need elected representatives to act effectively on their behalf.