WHAT WENT WRONG in the drive to pass comprehensive health care reform legislation?

While three House committees have approved measures, not a single Republican cast a vote in favor. When the traditionally bipartisan Senate Finance Committee this week considers a reform measure put together by Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., it likely will do so without support from any Republican panel members.

Certainly, President Obama deserves some blame. His refusal until recently to go beyond general principles for reform allowed far-left-of-center House Democrats to frame specifics of the legislation. The result was a bill that increased public concerns.

House Democratic leaders also deserve blame for devising a measure with provisions, such as the “public option,” that stoked the fires of opposition.

And we wonder if there are some congressional Republicans who oppose the legislation simply because they see its defeat as a way of politically weakening President Obama.
Whatever the reasons, the victims of a failure to reach an agreement will be many, including millions of U.S. residents who will continue to have no means to obtain affordable health insurance coverage.

We hope, as legislators take another stab at reform legislation, that they can achieve a bipartisan plan to improve the nation’s health care delivery and financing system.

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