Account for the failure of Clinton's health care reforms

Résumé du document

In the United States in the early 1990s, both public opinion and political actors agreed that healthcare system did not work properly anymore. The American system is based on employment, i.e. those who work can benefit from a healthcare insurance, but unemployed people and half-time workers cannot afford it. With the depression of the 1980s, this system excluded many American citizens from health care. In the early 1990s, more than 40 million of American citizens had no health coverage . It is also one of the most expensive systems in the world; in 1992, $ 838,5 billion were spent in health care in the country . During the presidential electoral campaign of 1992, this question emerged as the electors' biggest concern. Candidate Clinton made the issue of healthcare reform the main point of his program. He promised "to end welfare as we know it." When he came to power, one of his first decisions was to set up a task force to work on the health care reform.

Extraits

[...] Hacker, C “Health reform in the United States” , in Reforming healthcare; The philosophy and practice of international health reform. Chichester, Wiley. Fiorina,M.P., Peterson, P.E Domestic policy The new American democracy. New-York. Longman Andersen, C Hillary Clinton's path to power, p 42. New-York. Harper Collins. Starr, P “What Happened to Health Care Reform?" in The American Prospect no Micklethwait, J The Right Nation; Why America is different . New-York, The Penguin group. Ibid Anonymous November 1993, “Coopers & Lybrand Survey of employers shows scepticism on efficacy of Clinton Healthcare Task Force Reform proposal,” Computers in Healthcare. [...]

[...] “Health care reform in the United States: Clinton or Canada?” in Reforming health care. The philosophy and practice of international health reform. Chichester, Wiley. Bock, D The great health care debate of 1993-1994, Havard University. Starr, P “What Happened to Health Care Reform?" in The American Prospect no Ibid Starr, P “What Happened to Health Care Reform?" in The American Prospect no Bock, D.,1998.The great health care debate of 1993-94, Havard University. [...]

[...] Not only did they not support the plan, but a lot of senators proposed their own bill to reform health care. For instance, senators Cooper and Breaux proposed to pass a law which promoted “employer mandate” provision. Another example is the McDermott-Wellstone bill which proposed to create a Canadian-style system, with a national health insurance industry. This Canadian model was very popular among certain categories of population and political actors, and was seen as the right thing to do. But the strongest opposition came from the businesses affected by the reform. [...]

[...] The supporters were not numerous and convincing enough. The great opposition, even more than the numerous weaknesses of the plan, killed it. It also prevented the United States from a health care reform for a long time. Today, the system had not changed, and great inequalities still exist. The United States are the most powerful country in the world, but their healthcare system is the least efficient and most unfair among the developed countries. This lack of social justice weakens the cohesion of the American society. [...]

[...] In the beginning of 1993, President Clinton announced that he was creating a task force to work on a health care reform plan. This task force was composed of many secretaries involved, such as the secretary of finances or the secretary of veterans. The chair woman was Hillary Rodham Clinton, the wife of the President. Their first and major mistake was to exclude others actors from this task force. Hillary Clinton refused to invite interests groups, whereas the plan would have needed their support. [...]