Vote on healthcare reform stalled until September

As the debate over healthcare reform intensifies, news came from Washington that the vote on a new healthcare plan would be postponed until September. A Washington Post article suggests that both sides of the issue will have to draw up new media campaigns to win support during the next two months. Last Thursday, the Post says, the Obama Administration launched advertisements about "the cost of doing nothing" via the Democtratic National Committee, the article said. On the other side of the issue, the organization Americans for Prosperity is buying better than $1 million of advertisements on a national cable television station this week to criticize the Canadian-style health care the Obama Administration's plan would allegedly institute. The Obama camp's Organizing for America group also is expected to step up its e-mail campaign to seek support for the plan. The truth is we won't really know if a national health care plan works until it is up and running for several years. There are undeniable pros and cons of such a system, but with the economy shaky and unemployment rising, Americans may be too afraid of another big government program that further increases the deficit. On the other side of the argument, the longer we wait on healthcare the more those without coverage face sure financial ruin if a catastropic event strikes their families.