4 Simmering Crises Congress Must Face in 2012

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Margaret Dick Tocknell, for HealthLeaders Media, January 4, 2012

4. Stop leaving everything to the last minute
As crazy as it may seem, people in the real world (outside of Capital Hill) are actually affected by many of the decisions Congress makes. So when members talk about how important is it to develop long-term plans to tackle Medicare reimbursements or payroll taxes it's annoying to watch Congress run the clock down to minutes before a calamitous deadline and then settle on short-term, patchwork action that simply postpones real resolution. Until the cycle starts up again. It's time to stop this.

What Congress might really do
With Congressional approval ratings hovering in the single digits expect members of Congress to return from the holidays with a spring in their step and a determination to boost their ratings by rolling up their sleeves and making the hard decisions. Gotcha! After much hand wringing and finger pointing it will be business as usual on Capital Hill. Oh wait. It's an election year. So things will move even slower.

Margaret Dick Tocknell is a reporter/editor with HealthLeaders Media.

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