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Tony Ondrusek is founder and publisher of Insurance & Financial Advisor and IFAwebnews.com.

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UPDATE, NOV 9, 2009: To the surpirse of many, the House did in fact vote on and pass its health care reform legislation on Saturday, Nov. 7. Click here for the story. It’s passage does not change the contention that many Democrats are against it, and the bill will have a difficult time when it reaches the Senate. My original blog post is below.

“Absolutely. Without question.”

That was how Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi responded during a press conference on Sept. 24 when asked if she would put the final version of the House health reform bill online for at least 72 hours before a vote so that Americans could read the 1,900-page legislation.

But now, in the waning hours before a scheduled vote on Saturday, Nov. 7, it appears that both a vote won’t happen on Saturday, and Mrs. Pelosi will not hold to her promise of full public disclosure of the bill.

By Friday afternoon, Mrs. Pelosi’s efforts to pass the bill on Saturday appear to fall short of the 218 votes needed to move it along to the Senate. Sticking points in the bill include abortion issues and government-sponsored health care for illegal immigrants. All of which means that Pelosi and the House Democrats are scrambling to find out exactly what those Democrats on the fence want, and are writing amendments and changes to the legislation to ensure passage.

It’s likely that changes to the bill will not be made in time for a Saturday vote, so it is likely the vote will be delayed to Sunday or early next week. (click here for ABC News article)

But if changes are being made to the bill up until the day before it is being voted on, doesn’t that mean that the 72-hour window of public review can’t happen? Not necessarily, at least according to Steny Hoyer, the Dems’ second-in-command in the House, who said that Pelosi actually meant that the “manager’s amendment,” and not the bill itself, was what Pelosi meant. America got it all wrong. We “mis-heard” her, as our last president might have said. (Click here to read how Hoyer garbled what Mrs. Pelosi said)

Mrs. Pelosi’s own spokesman admitted that when the Speaker responded to the question about a 72-hour public display for “the final House bill” (an exact quote), her answer was really about the “manager’s amendment.” He would have us believe that when she responded, “Absolutely. Without question,” she was less than definitive. In essence, he said, she had no idea what she was talking about. (click here to read her spokesman’s comments)

So who exactly are these Democrats who are holding back support for the bill? Why, they are representatives who are actually LISTENING to their constituents. More than 54% of Americans polled recently said they don’t want this version of health care reform.

Take the case of Frank Kratovil, a Maryland Democrat representative who is up for re-election next year against a Republican that he barely beat in the last election. Mr. Kratovil is a hard-core Democrat, but much of his congressional district includes a slight majority of Republicans, many of whom must have been disillusioned by the Bush presidency. But based on the win last Tuesday by Republicans in New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections, it appears that this Democrat is re-thinking his stand.

Rep. Kratovil released this statement about Mrs. Pelosi’s health care proposal:

“We need health care reform that reduces long-term health care spending and expands coverage, but we must find a fiscally sustainable approach to accomplish these goals. After months of thoroughly reviewing legislative proposals and speaking with constituents and stakeholders, I am not satisfied that this bill before us is a sustainable solution. While I applaud the efforts to improve this bill, I still am concerned that this bill does not do enough to bend the long-term cost curve and that it lacks adequate provisions to reduce the deficit and protect small businesses. While I will continue to work with my colleagues to pursue a better bill as this process continues, I do not support HR 3962 and will vote against it when it comes to the floor this weekend.”

And there are many others like Kratovil who are NOT fully in the Pelosi/Obama camp on the health care bill.

But Pelosi is bound and determined to see this bill pass. Her promise to the people be damned. The will of the people be damned. She is going to force a vote even if her own party won’t get completely behind her. (click here to read a Wall Street Journal post)

I, for one, hope that her bill fails miserably and that the whole thing goes down in flames. Then, perhaps, we can get around to a reasonable discussion about how we can systematically and responsibly monitor and regulate the health care delivery, insurance and medical malpractice industries to bring about true reform.