Scott Brown's election impact on healthcare reform

On Thursday it was reported in the Washington Post that the election Scott Brown for the Massachusetts’s Senate seat has set healthcare reform back significantly. It seems rather amazing to me that the vote of one man is enough to stop a bill which seems especially painful (at least for Congress) when, as the article reports that the reform bill was almost “at the finish line.” It seems that Obama now wants to start again at the beginning and although he wants reform, the reform will not cover as many people. Then the article quoted one senator saying, when asked if he felt the healthcare bill was dead, he said “I sure hope so.”

What I don’t understand really is why people are so against the bill. I see how they fear a raise in taxes but in the long run, if nothing is passed, health care costs could skyrocket even higher than they are now. I worry too that if only a scaled back plan is passed it might not be much better than the status quo. Everyone seems so worried about how the bill might raise taxes or cut back Medicare, they don’t seem to see or focus on the good it might do for people. I do understand that reform costs a great deal but when I think of how medical costs can leave people without a home, especially if they’re uninsured, I wonder which cost is really greater in the long run.

link to article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/20/AR2010012003775.html?sid=ST2010012005092