Massachusetts defeat looks set to water down US Pres Obama's health reform plans

The defeat for the Democrats in the special Senate election in the US state of Massachusetts ' which elected little-known Republican Scott Brown to the seat previously held by Senator Ted Kennedy who died last year - has thrown President Barack Obama's controversial $849 billion Health Care Reform Bill into doubt, as the loss of the filibuster-proof Senate majority might force him into some sort of a compromise (The Pharma Letter January 21).

Although there has been little in the way of a formal statement from the White House, President Obama yesterday - in an interview with ABC News - urged lawmakers to "coalesce" around the parts of proposed health reform on which they agreed, signaling he might support a scaled-back overhaul of legislation that had been his number one domestic policy priority. The President has, however, stated: 'The same thing that swept Scott Brown into office swept me into office. People are angry, and they're frustrated. Not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years.'

He also warned Democrats in Congress not to "jam" a health care reform bill through now that they have lost their commanding majority in the Senate, and said they must wait for newly- elected Mr Brown to be sworn into office, telling ABC he rejected a 'dirty quick-fix' on health care. He said: "The people of Massachusetts spoke; he [Scott Brown] has got to be part of that process." However, the president said it was important for Americans to understand that core elements of the bill such as cost containment and insurance reform were vital.