4 Ways Health Care Reform Could Be Derailed

Despite the jubilation on Nancy Pelosi’s face as she announced the result of the House vote on the health care bill late Saturday night, there are rumors that all is not well with the reform effort.

Diligence or Delay Tactics? According to NPR sources, the Senate leader Harry Reid is preparing the ground for a long offensive. He is suggesting that the Senate will not easily pass a bill and that it could be next year before the work has been completed and a vote taken.

This is not what the millions of uninsured want to hear. President Obama was elected substantially on his mantra of change. Delay is not change, this is politics as normal. The President and his supporters must be disappointed. I wouldn’t want to be a Senator up for re-election if I were found to have caused an unnecessary delay in passing a health care bill.

Death Panels – No, I kid you not. Last weekend our friendly former governor from Alaska was back on Facebook propagating her belief that death panels will sit in judgment upon us. Unfortunately, even if the good woman has a point to make it is lost in the media scrum to go over the whole sordid events of last summer again. Trouble is that she is extremely influential.

Even as she lambasts the House for passing a bill, she has many supporters that will make the life of their Senator a living hell. Maybe they will want to get an early start for the panels! No matter what, those that can influence this Senate debate will be targeted and will target others to ensure that the debate runs its full course. Full debate, yes. Partisan politics, no.