"I don't see the votes for it at this time."

Nancy Pelosi announces she can't come up with the 218 votes necessary to pass the Senate version of health care reform. 

Pelosi: House won't pass Senate bill to save health-care reform - washingtonpost.com

Of course the Washington Post advances the microeconomic meme; it's lacking "this", or "that". I think the larger (and more important) conclusion is the huge government mandated restructuring of American health care is dead (maybe permanently). By the time the government gets around to trying this again medical technology will have advanced so far only the social justice types will consider it worth pursuing. For now the American people don't want it, and moderate politicians reading the tea leaves and always concerned about self-preservation have decided not to follow their leaders off the cliff. In the meantime, I hope congress gives serious thought to straightening out the insurance stuff (level playing field for individual and company purchased medical insurance, loosening of preexisting condition clauses, allowing selling across state lines), make sure things work and make sure people can decide what level of risk they're comfortable with in their purchase of medical insurance.

What will this mean? I'm hoping the end of most of the all-encompassing, impossible to kill, top down government schemes by the self-anointed elite who believe their every thought is a revelation, and their every worry requires government intervention. The Republicans will hope the midterms will bring them a reversal of their electoral fortunes, and the majority of Democrats will realize the president, while well thought of, is advancing a very unpopular agenda. I'm hoping for gridlock and majority approved, incremental changes which can be evaluated as they are instituted.

For me as one citizen and a guy who has worked in medical device development for the past 15 years a good news day.