On healthcare, the prognosis is compromise

In the next month, Congress will attempt the daunting feat of turning half-written proposals into healthcare reform legislation that can pass the House and the Senate before the August recess. Who would benefit from expanded coverage, who would pay for it, and how extensively the insurance and healthcare systems would be restructured were a few of the big questions left unresolved when House and Senate negotiators took a break for the Fourth of July recess. In the Senate, Democratic leaders face the additional tasks of merging vastly different proposals from two committees and foiling efforts to shrink or derail the bill as it advances on the floor.