Health Care Reform — Where Do We Go from Here?

For most of 2009, the conventional wisdom inside and outside Washington was that a significant health care reform bill would be signed into law no later than February 2010, the start of the primary season for the 2010 elections. Although there was always some question about final passage of a bill — whether the Senate's Democratic leadership would be able to retain support for the legislation among more conservative party members and whether the more liberal House would accept most of the Senate's provisions — most observers, including me, assumed that a signing ceremony would take place early this year. . . .