Is window already closing for federal health reform?

Some health reform advocates are started to voice concern that substantive health reform may be in jeopardy if the Obama Administration does not offer a major bill within its first 100 days, a date that the administration will be hard pressed to meet (Source: “Some fear window is narrow for healthcare overhaul,” Boston Globe, Jan. 28, 2009).

With the economic recovery bill and the ongoing financial bailout consuming much of the time and energy of the Obama Administration and health reform champion Sen. Ted Kennedy delaying his healthcare bill as he recovers from a seizure related to his brain cancer, some advocates of health reform are starting to express concern.

“The waters are very perilous, and whether the healthcare boat can traverse them given everything else that is going on, is, I think, very much an open question," said Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute and the head of the Congressional Budget Office during the Clinton administration.

However, Kennedy, in an e-mailed statement, said fears that health reform is in jeopardy are unfounded. "Naysayers always find reasons not to take action. But the American people and American business know that we cannot afford inaction. The president and the Congress know it too. We are moving swiftly and deliberately to pass much needed healthcare reform. The president is committed to it and so am I."