WASHINGTON, D.C. — The lone Minnesota Democrat to oppose the House health-care overhaul bill said he's open to supporting health-care reform, so long as the final bill looks more like the middle-of-the-road Senate plan currently under consideration.

While both the Senate and House health-care bills guarantee access to health insurance regardless of pre-existing conditions, neither one will do much to improve the affordability of health coverage for moderate to middle-income Americans in the individual market, according to wonks and critics across the political spectrum.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A health care bill before the Senate will cost $849 billion over the next 10 years and extend coverage to 98 percent of legal residents, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate released Wednesday that Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken praised as "very positive" and "promising."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid faces a political and procedural obstacle course to pass a health care bill in the Senate. Minnesota political experts explore his options. "This is all a game right now," says one.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — The author of the cooperatives alternative to public option said today that a bill containing both co-ops and a public option might win favor in Congress yet this year.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has provided payments to farmers to take marginal land, especially land most susceptible to erosion, out of production. But as contracts expire, the program is expected to fall from nearly 40 million acres to 32 million, or even fewer.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Minnesota's two Democratic senators signaled their approval of the House-passed health-care reform legislation, but both indicated that they also saw room for improvement as the debate pivots to the Senate.

The critical agreement that allowed passage of the health care bill in the U.S. House came together in the 11th hour and centered on the politically sensitive issue of abortion rights. Some members of Minnesota's congressional delegation are unhappy the issue has surfaced in the health care debate.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Days before an expected vote on health care reform in the U.S. House, thousands of protesters descended on the Capitol Thursday to rally around Rep. Michele Bachmann and other GOP lawmakers who have denounced the legislation.

Related: Skip Humphrey, AARP volunteers endorse reform bill

Steve Knutson, executive director of the Fremont Community Clinics system, says, "We can have providers do wonderful things and intervene early, but if we don't have a willing patient on the other side of the table we're not going to get to an endpoint."