Will it be Democrats who kill health care reform?

Four moderate Senate Democrats may break with their party and imperil the president's signature legislative accomplishment. Is reform toast — or is this a "brilliant" ploy?

Newly elected Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va) is one of four Senate Democrats taking aim at the individual mandate -- the heart of Obama's heath care law.
(Image credit: Getty)

Republicans appear dead-set on repealing the Democrats' signature health care overhaul, and a "handful of moderate Senate Democrats" could help them, says Manu Raju in Politico. At least four Democrats facing tough re-election battles in 2012 say they are open to changing the law, especially the controversial individual mandate at its heart. Four Democrats plus the Senate's 47 Republicans equals a simple majority. Once the tinkering begins, will the whole reform package collapse — with the help of Democrats?

Yes, at least some Dems have seen the light: With courts threatening to strike down the unpopular mandate (which requires all Americans who can afford to buy health insurance to do so), and possibly the whole law, it's no surprise these moderate Democrats are "looking for a Plan B," says Ed Morrissey in Hot Air. But what they'll find is that "ObamaCare simply doesn't work, either economically or legally, in any form." Once that realization takes hold, there should be a bipartisan push for "real, market-based reforms," and ObamaCare is toast.

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