Congress to miss health-care deadline

President Obama set a deadline of the end of the year to get a health-care reform passed. Dick Durbin, D-Il., the second-highest ranking Democrat in the Senate, said that while the President's deadline wont be met, he at least hopes to pass a health-care bill in the Senate by that time.
Former President Bill Clinton visited the White House to discuss the bill with the Senate Democrats. After trying and failing to get a health-care overhaul passed while in office, Clinton told the current Senators that they had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to push through a reform package that is crucial to the country's long-term health.
The Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, D-Nv, has in the past expressed his doubt that the deadline could be met. Right now, the most crucial obstacle is whether or not to include a government-public run option.
However, leaders in both the House and the Senate have agreed on a couple broad changes that would be included in the bill: subsidizing insurance for a family of four for up to $88,000 per year; expand Medicaid and create health insurance exchanges; and limit out of pocket expenses and prevent insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/10/health.care/index.html

The Dems need to hurry and try to push their bill through both the House and the Senate, before the elections coming up next year.
It's also my personal opinion that they should indeed add a stipulation for a government-run public option, because the states would have till 2014 to decided whether or not to accept this. That will give the states time to take polls, and determine if it would be beneficial for the people in their states.