Although the legislative fight is over, the political, and legal, struggles will loom for months, if not years, to come. Fourteen attorneys general have already filed suit - in some cases, minutes after the bill passed on Tuesday - challenging the law's constitutionality.

And voter backlash could decide who controls Congress during elections this fall.


"The question is, will the passage of the health care overhaul also prove a Pyrrhic victory for Democrats - one that will devastate the winners in the 2010 elections?" asked Morton Kondracke today on the website CQ Politics.

A CNN poll taken this week found a substantial majority opposed the health reform bill, 59 percent versus 39 percent, although momentum appears to be swinging the other way. A more recent USA Today/Gallup poll, released on Tuesday, found a slim plurality in favor of the bill, 49 percent against 40 percent.

While the Congress was voting on the legislation, a victorious Obama during a speech at the University of Iowa dared GOP leaders to try to make good on any plans to stop the bill now. "Go for it," he said.



Back to HCB News

More Industry Headlines