Will Obama's Healthcare Proposal Go Down in Flames?

I think it probably could. The costs of dealing with Healthcare this year could be too high. As much as I would like to see more affordable healthcare made available to those who don't have it or to those who are currently underserved, I don't really think it's a realistic goal right now, due to the economy. At a time when Obama needs to get spending under control to restore fiscal sanity, he wants to try to pass a massive program. This only increases the risk of failure or increases the chances that the program will be so watered down that it will just be a waste of money afterall, with few being able to truly benefit from the legislation. There's already the problem of Obama's plan not being a single payer program, and not being truly Universal. Obama's approach still leaves the Private Health Insurance industry in charge...determining who gets care, what services are provided, and ultimately who lives or dies. I have always believed that as long as we maintained a "for profit" Healthcare system in this Country, there would never be a fundamental change in the kinds of problems that Michael Moore and others have pointed out.

It might be better to wait a year or two... give the economy a chance to recover, and revisit the issue again. In fact, the economy might recover faster, because there won't be a massive healthcare bill weighing down the budget.

The Blue Dog Democrats- Moderate/Conservative Democrats such as Kent Conrad and Evan Bayh- may already be gearing up to try to scale back some of Obama's proposals, because the costs are too enormous. Some might say that the costs might be higher long term if investments in Healthcare aren't made right now. But Conservative Democrats, many of whom represent purple districts, have to be responsive to their constituents.

This could be an effort by Obama to say that he at least tried. Perhaps they realize that this will eventually have to be taken out of the budget, at least for the next fiscal year, and they at least want to be seen as having made an effort to get a comprehensive Healthcare plan through the Congress.