May the Best Health Plan Win (Congressional Quarterly Weekly, subsription only)

..."There is a war. There is a fundamental difference in world views about business models that are wise for our country," said Len Nichols, who served as senior advisor for health policy during the Clinton reform efforts of 1993-94 and is now director of health policy for the New America Foundation, a public policy think tank. "I wake up in the morning and I want to cover all Americans and I'm pretty sure there are only two ways to do that: Medicare for all . . . and I'm pretty sure Americans aren't going to vote for that; the other way to do it is through mandates." ...

The New America Foundation's Nichols, a veteran of the Clinton overhaul years, said that this time around he expects health care reform will percolate up to the White House from Congress -- instead of being handed down from the White House as it was in the early 1990s.

"I predict this: No president is going to send up a 1,300 page bill," Nichols said. "What will matter is what comes out of the congressional committees." ...