Health care reform in its current state in Congress is as dead as my once white-hot passion for a Barack Obama presidency. (More on that another time.) Depending on one’s political perspective, the bills that made it out of the House and Senate either cost too much, don’t go far enough, or are just plain socialist.

In response, I’d like to propose a three-pillar bill that I defy anyone to find fault with:

1. Make it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
2. Make it illegal for insurance companies to drop coverage on any patient just because he or she gets sick.
3. Allow individuals to purchase health insurance across state lines.

There. What’s so difficult about that? Such a bill may not provide universal coverage, but it would be a major advance from where things stand today. Insured patients no longer would have to worry about losing their home because of an illness. That long-ago visit to the doctor for a headache won’t lead to denial of coverage when you have a brain tumor removed. And most importantly, we’d open up health insurance to the free, capitalist system, which would certainly drive down costs.

Do you see this three-pillar bill adding to the federal deficit? I don’t either.

Methinks the health care debate is pushing me toward liberterianism.

Now, excuse me while I head back to the living room to watch the Gators continue their thrashing of Georgia’s “basketball team.”

For three days, I’ve listened to this ESPN college basketball “analyst” rationalize an early exit by a potential No. 1 seed as having no bearing on their NCAA seeding or their national title hopes.

First he rationalized No. 2-ranked Pittsburgh’s loss to West Virginia in the Big East quarterfinals. Then No. 3 UConn’s loss to Syracuse in the same round. Now, No. 1 North Carolina’s loss to Florida State in the ACC semifinals.

In fact, Gottleib suggested that it might be a good thing that those teams lost so they can be more rested as they enter the NCAA Tournament.

That struck me as wrong-headed, so I did some research and discovered that the road to the national championship followed a familiar route in recent years.

The last five NCAA champions:

• 2008: Kansas Jayhawks. Warmed up by winning the Big 12 Tournament.
• 2007: Florida Gators. After winning the SEC Tournament.
• 2006: Florida. Won the SEC Tournament.
• 2005: North Carolina Tar Heels. Lost in ACC Tournament semifinals.
• 2004: Connecticut Huskies. Won the Big East Tournament.

So, four of the past five NCAA champions also won their conference tournament. And I’d bet that any of those teams would agree that the experience they gained winning their conference tourneys — by winning three games in three days — better prepared them for the grind of the Big Dance.

Doug, are you paying attention?

Finally, there’s the most important reason conference tournaments matter. If you win one, you get to raise a championship banner over your home court that will be there forever.

I don’t recall banners being raised very often for earning a No. 1 seed.

This week’s AP poll featured only one SEC team: Tennessee, hanging on at No. 24 (and certainly out of next week’s poll after its blowout loss to Kentucky at home last night). The coaches’ poll was completely void of SEC schools. And it’s hard for anyone down South to complain.

Oh, where have you gone, Florida Gators?

Remember them, the back-to-back NCAA champions in 2006 and ’07? As of this writing, Florida may have the league’s best overall record at 14-2, but it doesn’t have a signature victory (unless you want to count a road win at UWashington back in November). The Gators lost their highest profile games — to Syracuse (89-83) and Florida State (57-55).

Florida is a long way from getting any sort of Top 25 consideration.

And for that, I blame Billy Donovan and Florida A.D. Jeremy Foley. God love ‘em, but they did the program no favors this season by lining up a pathetically weak pre-conference schedule for the second year in a row.

A pattycake slate made sense last season, after losing all five starters from its national-title teams. But this year? With so many players returning from a team that made it to the 2008 NIT Final Four, there was little reason for the Gators to crawl into the season like a bunch of newbies. Donovan should have set them up with plenty of challenges to toughen them for an NCAA run in 2009.

I mean, really … Southern Utah? Florida Gulf Coast? Stetson? Longwood? Couldn’t the Gators have replaced a couple of those games with major-conference matchups on national TV?

The only way Nick Calathes and Co. are going to learn what it takes to win championships is to compete against championship-caliber teams. They did little of that leading up to this SEC season. As things stand, I believe the Gators need to win 11 or 12 regular-season conference games to earn NCAA Tournament at-large consideration. In a down year for the SEC, that certainly is achievable.

And if Florida doesn’t make the Big Dance this year?

Fans mights start wishing Donovan had not left the Orlando Magic at the altar.