Though a core group of Democrats — and a few Republicans — are pushing for fast action on a health care reform bill, given the complexity of the problem, that’s probably the opposite of what needs to be done.

Make no mistake, we strongly stand behind the notion that health care costs in this country are out of control and how we provide care and insurance coverage needs to be addressed so every American has the option to be covered.

And right now, because of an arbitrary deadline set by our president before he took office, there is immense pressure in Washington to pass legislation before the end of the year.

The House of Representatives has already sent a bill to the Senate — a measure full of controversial proposals and questionable cost and expense estimates.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he wants to see his side of Congress vote on the measure before the end of 2009 — a month and a half away — despite the fact he has not heard back from the Budget Office on the costs and coverage associated with his version of the bill.

Regardless of all the rhetoric from both Democrats and Republicans — neither of which are being completely honest with the American people about health care reform (yes, there are some more expenses involved and someone is going to have to foot the bill, but no there are no “death panels” on the table), we do have to have health care reform in this country — and sooner rather than later.

But pushing to solve all of these complex problems before the end of the year because it fits a political promise just does not make sense. We are more likely to end up with a solution that is so fundamentally flawed that it really is no solution at all.

And we need the politicians to come clean about how their measures will actually affect individuals, families and businesses — whatever we do has to fit the needs of employees and companies to work in the long run.

Regardless of what happens, the system has to be fixed — and the government will have to be involved at some level, whether it is better regulating a private-industry model or a move to socialized medicine — because what we have now is clearly not working.

There is too much disparity in coverage, and an unfair amount of the burden for covering health care costs is being pushed off on working Americans who pay through higher taxes, higher insurance costs and higher medical bills.

We need to address the problem, but we need to do it right — and that will take more time than a month and a half.