Health Care Reform:

Democrats Vow to Move Fast on Health

Health and the Presidential Campaign

Thomas P. Miller, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, says major policy shifts addressing the 40 million American adults who lack medical insurance will likely wait until after the next presidential elections.

"It's unlikely it will be solved now, so it becomes a 2008 issue," he says. "Frankly, it's unlikely to happen in 2009, either."

Ken Thorpe, a health policy analyst at Emory University, predicts Congress will spend the next two years "laying the groundwork for 2008" on health care costs.

"The good news is, it's back on the agenda. We haven't had this debate for the last six years," says Thorpe, who has advised Democratic candidates on health policy.

AARP, the powerful seniors' lobbying group, said in a statement Thursday it would begin tracking lawmaker's voting records and reporting to members "how their elected officials voted -- throughout the session."