With all the angst last week about CBO scores (or rather, partial preliminary scores) and the politics of the public plan, it's easy to forget what it's really all about. Yes it's about doing what's right and good for economy. But it's also about people.

People like Robin Beaton.

Beaton is a retired nurse from Texas. She spent years taking care of other people. And she also made sure that she was taken care of. She paid her insurance premiums each month. It gave her protection. It gave her access to good care. It gave her peace of mind.

Or so she thought.

Democratic strategist Paul Begala brought Beaton to our attention in a recent CNN commentary. She was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. And her insurance carrier dropped her. It's a practice known as rescission.

In May 2008, Beaton saw a dermatologist for acne. The doctor, apparently in a mistake, made a note on her chart indicating she might have a pre-cancerous skin condition. A few days before she was scheduled to have a double mastectomy, Blue Cross called Beaton and told her they were launching a full scale investigation into her health history, as the dermatologist's note was a "red flag" indicating she might be hiding a serious health condition.

Karen Tumulty (who, a few months ago, recounted her own brother's traumatic encounters with health insurance) over at Time's Swampland writes:

What Robin went through after that was a nightmare, one she tearfully described Tuesday morning in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee. "The sad thing is, Blue Cross gladly took my high premiums, and the first time I filed a claim and was suspected of having cancer, they searched high and low for a reason to cancel me," said Robin, whose hair is just beginning to grow back in from chemotherapy.

Later, at the same hearing, all three health insurance executives present stated they had no plans to end the practice of rescission any time soon. Unfortunately, Beaton's story is not unique. Otto Raddatz lost his coverage right before he was scheduled to receive chemotherapy because of an old CT scan indicating he had gall stones and an aneurysm—both completely unrelated to his current condition. Jennifer Wittney lost her health coverage and cannot get covered anywhere else because she once took a medication to regulate irregular periods.

There are differences in the health reform bills that the various House and Senate committees are working on. But they all aim to give all Americans peace of mind—and good insurance. New laws and regulations would force insurers to change the way they do business; for starters, they could not refuse to cover people who are sick, or who have been sick in the past. In short, insurers would have to insure.

As a strategist, Begala's primary warning is to the Obama administration. He stresses that health care reform needs to be priority one Obama if it is going to pass this year, concluding:

I understand that Obama's White House team has to juggle a lot of issues; I've been there. And I'm sure the Obama financial reforms have merit. But if the president wants to pass his ambitious health care reform, he's going to have to put other, worthy, ideas on the back burner and shine the media spotlight on the plight of people like Robin Beaton.

The White House seems to have reached a similar conclusion. Some good news about health reform started dribbling out late last week, and hit the headlines this weekend. Today President Obama and the new head of the AARP, Barry Rand, will formally welcome the pledge by the pharmaceutical industry trade group PhRMA to save $80 billion in drug costs over the next decade. That will help chalk up some of the savings needed for health reform—and help America's seniors pay for their medicine.  Good PR. But also good policy.