Health care proposals divide Democrats in Congress

By Cynthia Dizikes | Tuesday, June 30, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. ¡ª The Democrats may control Congress and the White House, but when it comes to health care reform ¡ªarguably the most important legislation that the U.S. government will tackle this year ¡ª the well-positioned political party could turn out to be its own worst enemy.

Although this round of health care debates has only just begun, cracks have already started to form between liberal Democrats in the House, who have rallied for a robust government-run health insurance option, and moderates in the Senate, who have said that such a plan might not be politically feasible and have pushed instead for a more incremental approach.

"At this point, the prospect of failure is very strong," said Larry Jacobs, a political science professor at the University of Minnesota who specializes in health care policy.