A sick system.

Abstract

After nearly two decades of skyrocketing costs, widespread gaps in insurance coverage and overwhelming public sentiment in favor of reform, health care has finally taken hold as a political issue. The Bush Administration, key Capitol Hill lawmakers and most of the major Democratic presidential candidates have advanced plans to break Washington's gridlock on overhauling the system. Here's a road map of the competing routes to reform and the hazards that are likely to be encountered along the way.