An unorthodox strategy of circumventing a U.S. Senate filibuster to achieve enactment of health care reform appears to be sinking with weakening of support in the House. Rep. Neil Abercrombie's resignation at the end of this month so he can run full-time for governor may mark the end of majority support in the House. It's clearer than ever that a bipartisan effort is needed to bring a broken system under some control, even if it falls short of being comprehensive reform.

Republican Sen. Scott Brown's election in Massachusetts left Senate Democrats one short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a Senate filibuster. The Obama administration suggested after Brown's election that the House accept the Senate's version of the reform package with the understanding that changes acceptable to a simple majority in both chambers could be achieved through “;reconciliation,”; a method of circumventing a Senate filibuster.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., initially resisted that strategy but on Tuesday was quoted in the Roll Call newspaper as saying that House Democrats had “;set the stage for that ... The American people have to make a judgment about the conduct of the Republicans in insisting on that (filibuster) on every vote, and the Democrats in the Senate have to deal with the challenge that they have.”;

However, the death Monday of Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania reduced House support of health care to a mere one-vote margin by some counters. Abercrombie's departure would leave the House all square, eliminating the reconciliation strategy. Abercrombie still plans to resign on Feb. 28.

Sen. Daniel Inouye acknowledged that the “;big, ambitious”; health care legislation that he has supported is no longer realistic.

“;I think we will come up with something smaller,”; he said.

Republicans and Democrats alike agree that patients should not be denied health insurance because of pre-existing conditions, family insurance policies should cover children to age 25 instead of the present 18, and patients should be informed about the cost of medical services before they are rendered.

However, Republicans oppose universal health care requiring all Americans who can afford it to be insured or face fines. As a result, the United States is likely to remain the world's only developed country that refuses to recognize basic health care as a moral right.

Instead, a phenomenon that resulted in Anthem Blue Cross in California raising insurance premiums by as much as 39 percent come March 1 for people with policies apart from employer-based coverage will continue. Anthem explained that its costs have increased because many people in good health dropped coverage because of the weak economy, leaving the not-so-healthy older policy holders in a smaller pool.

That goes to a fundamental reason for health care reform, beyond the moral right: Universal coverage, with more in the pool, helps defray costs for those already paying.

Unfortunately, major surgery of the nation's health care system will have to wait for another day.