Some hospitals are putting off expansion plans. Insurers are holding their collective breath. And, as the Clinton health care plan encounters delay after delay, the once broad-based support for reform is showing signs of fraying.

"I think people are afraid President Clinton and Mrs. Clinton can't get their act together," said Robert Blendon, a health policy expert at the Harvard School of Public Health. "There's anxiety they are losing control of management of the issue."Recent surveys show rising doubts about the administration's ability to reform the health care system. An ABC-Washington Post poll released last week found 45 percent expect "substantial progress." That's down 20 percentage points from the 65 percent who said in April they believed that the administration could improve the cost and availability of health care.

Even strong supporters are beginning to complain. Helene Kramer, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Lee County, Fla., was a spellbinding speaker when she told Hillary Clinton about her uninsured fight against cancer during a Tampa public forum in February.

Now, Kramer said she is getting frustrated with delays in the final plan, which was first promised in May. Clinton is expected to release a plan in September based on recommendations from the task force headed by Hillary Clinton. "Everybody calls me up and asks when is it going to happen," Kramer said. "You get bits and pieces in the paper that change all the time. Everyone who wants proper health care is awaiting this plan with bated breath."

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Those in the health care business also are impatient.

"There is a lot of anxiety over what is going to hit the table," said Peter Wilson, vice president for regulatory affairs at the American Hospital Association. "The fundamental anxiety is that nothing comes out. The delays in getting started could give one concern that nothing will get started."

Doctors have the jitters. James Todd, executive vice president of the American Medical Association, said many physicians are trying to adjust their practices in anticipation of the reform plan.

"They are looking at their current environment and projecting how best to cope with it," he said. "They're asking, `Do I get into a managed care system or wait?' "

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