Health-care debate revives

After sorry 14-year hiatus, health-care debate revives - USATODAY.com: "Hopes were high 14 years ago when Bill and Hillary Clinton proposed an ambitious plan to provide health insurance for all Americans. Democrats and Republicans alike cheered when the president threatened to veto anything less than universal coverage.
That promising moment didn't last long. After initially winning support from medical, business and labor groups, the Clintons' top-down plan collapsed under the weight of its own complexity. Attacks on 'Hillary Care' helped Republicans win control ofCongress in 1994. Ever since, health care reform has been considered too costly, in dollars and political capital, for most politicians to touch. But the beleaguered system's problems — one in seven people without insurance, rising premiums and lower reimbursements for those who have insurance, endless payment hassles — haven't gone away. Attempts at fixing them have been incremental and timid at best. That could be about to change. Several groups that usually are at odds on health care now agree on the need for broad reform. These strange bedfellows are still a long way from agreeing on a plan, but the fact that they now see a common need signals a shift in the political dynamic. "