President Clinton's Health Security Act of 1993: Why and How His Plan Failed
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2001
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Haverford College. Department of Political Science
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
Kerry Kennedy owns a small furniture store that employs seven people in Titusville, Florida. Like most small business owners, he's poured his heart and soul, his sweat and blood into that business for years. But over the last several years, again like most small business owners, he's seen his health care premiums skyrocket, even in years when no claims were made. And last year, he painfully discovered he could no longer afford to provide coverage for all his workers because his insurance company told him that two of his workers had become high risks because of their advanced age. The problem was that those two people were his mother and father, the people who founded the business and still worked in the store!. Like Kerry Kennedy, many individuals in the United States do not have health insurance because they cannot afford it. Sadly, this was and still is the problem for the U.S. health care system. On September 22, 1993, President Clinton in a speech to Congress and the public called for a major health care overhaul and bipartisan support for his plan. Why did Clinton call for reform? There are several reasons for why he did it, but primarily Clinton called for reform because our health care system takes 35% more of our income than any other country, insures fewer people, requires more Americans to pay more and more for less and less, and gives them fewer choices. There is no excuse for that kind of system, and it's time to fix it. Currently, the United States has the highest expenditures on health care compared to countries like Britain and Germany, yet our system does not provide universal coverage. The rising costs of health care and the rising population of the uninsured have put our health care system under much scrutiny. Consequently, President Clinton appointed a Task Force headed by Hillary Clinton and Ira Magaziner (Health Care Policy Chief) to overhaul the health care system. The 1,342 page, comprehensive bill was based on providing every American with insurance coverage under a cost-efficient system (details discussed later). However, on September 26, 1994 his plan failed in Congress. Why and how did Clinton's plan fail? Many critics argue that Clinton's plan failed due to political infeasibility, unclear budgetary projections, lack of public support, the mobilization of interest groups, the political climate, the leadership of Hillary Clinton and Ira Magaziner, the lack of congressional support, and Clinton's failure to mobilize the public. Not one, but all of these factors played a role in the demise of Clinton's plan. This list does not exhaust all the possibilities, but in my opinion, are the most valid in determining and understanding the political failure of Clinton's bill. Furthermore, Clinton's plan failed also because the policy itself was too comprehensive and complicated. As a result, it became politically infeasible. It tried to solve all the problems of health care at once. In my opinion, the best method of reforming the U.S. health care system and ensuring political feasibility is through slow, incremental change. Though this is not perfect and does not guarantee reform, this is the best available method to reform our system.