From Sickbed, Kennedy Crafts Health Plan

Even as he undergoes cancer treatment, Ted Kennedy is coordinating bipartisan meetings with colleagues and lobbyists in an effort to produce health care legislation that includes universal coverage, the Washington Times reports. The meetings—involving labor unions, insurers, drug companies, and hospitals—“are a testament to how people feel about him,” said a GOP senatorial aide. Kennedy has called universal care "the cause of my life."

The Massachusetts senator, 76, hopes to avoid the pitfalls that sank President Clinton’s health care initiative. “He's working tirelessly,” said one advocate. “He's making things happen.” Neither presidential candidate is proposing true universal coverage, analysts say. One participant described the effort as a tribute: “There is this real feeling, 'Let's do it for Ted.' "
(More Ted Kennedy stories.)