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Health Care Reform: Lessons from the Past, Lessons for the Future

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Extract

We are well into the political season that guarantees the election of a new president. Actually, this season, the election cycle began in November 2006, as soon as the off-year election ended. Not surprisingly, health care and reforming health care are major issues for the election — although somewhat less important than they were before late 2007.

I use the phrase “not surprisingly” because there are easily understandable reasons why health care tends to be an election issue whenever we are electing a new president. One obvious reason is that, for several decades, we have been plagued by sizeable numbers of people without health insurance and even more importantly, by unsustainable increases in health care spending and substantial numbers of people experiencing patient safety and clinical appropriateness problems. I regard the unsustainable spending and safety and quality problems as especially important because they affect all of us — not just the 15% of the population that is without health insurance.

Type
Symposium
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2008

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References

USA Today/CNN/Gallop Poll, October 1993 and January 1994.Google Scholar
Public Opinion Strategies January 2004 and Harvard SPH/BCBS Foundation/Cogent Research Poll, 2003.Google Scholar