Health Care Reform in 2009?

(Thumbnail image from White House)

“We will pass reform that lowers costs, promotes choice, and provides coverage that every American can count on.  And we will do it this year.” (ABC News)

U.S. President Barack Obama made that pledge repeatedly this year.  But even after the Senate’s health care reform bill is moving to the floor for debate, the president’s goal looks very unlikely.

We’re tracking coverage on what stands in his way, and what the timetable means for health care reform from France 24, the Guardian, MSNBC, and FOX News.

First, France24 reports the biggest obstacle is time.

“The Senate’s debate is due to start on the 30th of November, and last for three weeks, at least.  The House of Representatives has passed its own version of the reforms earlier this month.  If the Senate passes this bill, then both versions would have to be reconciled and voted again before the program can become a law.  It’s therefore unlikely that Obama would sign it before the end of the year as he had hoped.”

The Guardian’s Michael Tomasky says Senate majority leader Harry Reid still has a lot of work to do.  He may only need 51 votes to pass the bill, but he’ll need to keep his coalition of 60 to get past more cloture votes.

“There will be a cloture vote to end debate and vote on final passage, which is the biggie. But there could be others -- one expert on such matters told me over the summer there could be as many as five, depending on how the debate is structured.”

If Democrats can’t get a bill through Congress by the end of the year, that could spell trouble for the reform effort, says MSNBC’s Erin Billings.

“That’s why I think getting something through the Senate is so critical this year.  If Harry Reid is unable to get a bill through the Senate I really think that it’s going to be very difficult to get any kind of healthcare reform to the President at all.  Now, as we get into 2010, as you mentioned, midterm elections put a lot of pressure on these vulnerables, these vulnerable democrats, who do not wanna, the want to win their re-elections obviously, and the stakes are very high.”

NPR’s Anne Kornblut says on FOX News Sunday the bill will make it, but it will look differently by the end.

“Well, it overcame another one of these hurdles, it keeps on moving forward, of course there are tremendous hurdles ahead.  I think what it looks like is its going to have to move and change probably more to accommodate the moderate and centrist democrats who say very clearly I’m going to vote for this bill to get to the floor but I’m not going to vote for it if it has a public option in it.  There are other problems with abortion. This bill is going to have to change.”

So will the Democrats succeed on health care reform?

Writer: Newsy Staff

Producer: Nathan Giannini