Focus: Washington: Health reform is dead: long live health reform

Last week mourners gathered at the grave of a political dream. President Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, most of Congress, and at least a third of America laid major health care reform to rest. What killed off the reform is a long and complicated saga. Yet even as Congress threw dirt on the coffin a few were still hoping that the body might have a little life left.

Experts have spent much of the past two weeks analysing the decline and fall of health reform. According to economists, the fundamental flaw was Mr Clinton's promise to provide universal health care coverage while simultaneously holding down medical costs. Washington pundits believe that tardiness and secrecy were the killers.

Mr Clinton promised health care reform during his 1992 presidential campaign, but he did not produce an outline of this top priority …