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Running Head: President Clintons and Obamas Health Care Policies

President Clintons and Obamas Health Care Policies


Ervin Franklin
Dr. Rick Humphress
510 Public Administration Analysis
June 08, 2015

Running Head: President Clintons and Obamas Health Care Policies


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Health care has always been an issue for American citizens. Many presidents have
brought up ideas on how to repair the health care plan, but all seemed to have failed. During
President Bill Clintons time, there were over 37 million Americans without health care
insurance, and the United States citizens were very concerned about health care coverage. Health
care issues are still on the rise and small accomplishments are being made during President
Barack Obama time. Both President Clinton and President Obama health care policies will be
discussed, analyzed, and criticized.
During President Clinton first year in office he tried to reform the United State health
care system. He argued throughout his campaign that millions of Americans needed health care
insurance and he would go on to try to enable those rights. Late January of 1993, President
Clinton announced an important Administration health care policy initiative that was lead by his
wife Hillary Clinton. He had given the task force a 100-day target to manufacture the
Administration proposal.
According to President Clintons health care reform proposals, the group did not have a
plan in place within the 100-day target, but the task force had spoken with more than 500
different organizations and had held several hundred meetings with Members of Congress. The
Administration proposal was not ready because the task force could not come to terms with
President Clintons economic team because the economic team though those quick changes
might be too costly and needed a more incremental approach. On September 22, 1993 President
Clinton gave Congress his key kick-off speech. The speech covered universal coverage and

Running Head: President Clintons and Obamas Health Care Policies


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managed competition; Democrats in Congress and the public opinion favored it a lot. Majority of
the public agreed and approved of the Presidents plan for health care in October of 1993.
President Clinton wanted his plan to rely on private insurance companies and employer
mandates. In order for him to guarantee those without insurance to be covered by competitive
prices, it was necessary for him to create health insurance straight from scratch.
President Clinton had threatened to veto any bill that did not provide universal coverage.
He wanted to allow universal coverage with control cost. There were two essential elements of
the plan that caused some coercion, which would cause premium to be higher, mandatory
participation in the cooperatives, and mandates employers to buy coverage. These components
caused things to be very complex but no one could come up with a simpler or better plan that
would fulfill the goals of the President plan. The complexity issues played a drastic role in the
defeat of the President plan. By the end of 1993 the general public was starting to disagree with
the Presidents plan.
During this time Republicans had started to label the health care plan as too large, too
complex, too costly, and too much government. The public had become highly involved and
extremely opinionated about the health care plan and things started to change in the spring of
1994. At this time minority was majority of the ones who had approved of the plan. Citizens
would just have to trust the Presidents consideration that the plan was good for the country.
There were interest groups that opposed to the Presidents plan. The health care reform failed
because of divided Democrats, encouraged Republicans, high interest group spending against
reform, overly ambitious proposal, Clintons forty-three percent plurality, declining public

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approval, the Whitewater scandal, the complexity of the proposals, and the resistance of
Americans to large governmental programs in the 1990s according to James P. Pfiffner in the
President Clinton Health Care Reform Proposals of 1994.
Although President Clinton health care reform failed, President Obama has brought some
of the same issues back to life. President Obama also believes that every American should have
near universal coverage. He has been working towards helping every uninsured citizen gain
affordable health care. His policies are still been set in stone as of today. The health care reform
had died in 1994 prior to the Obama care.
On the Issues refers to the Obama care as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
(PPACA) of 2010, which reformed healthcare insurance with the goal of near-universal
coverage. Many characteristic was used from the Clinton care that President Obama plans on
correcting; all of the lethal shortcomings are attempting to be corrected. There are more
Americans during President Obama ear with insurance that during President Clinton time. The
Obama care able mental health care services as part of health insurance services, but leaves
implementation to the states, and leaves all conditions of mental health coverage as open and
individual choice.
Although there are lots of pros and cons to the Obama care the affordable care act will
allow many ill citizens proper health care and alteration. Even though some groups are
benefitting more than others, all American citizen will benefit from the new rights and
protections in some way. There will be guaranteed coverage of pre-existing conditions and the
elimination of gender discrimination. These conditions may cause Americans health insurance

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cost to rise, but the quality of insurance will be much better. Some of the pros in the Obama care
consist of allowing over half of uninsured Americans to get free or low cost health insurance
using their states Health Insurance Marketplace but the individual mandate says you have to
obtain health coverage by January 2014, get an exemption or pay a fee if you can afford it.
In conclusion, both President Clinton and Obama health care policies have been
discussed, analyzed, and criticized for its effectiveness of this time. President Obama health care
policies seem to be more effective than President Clinton. The Obama care has been getting lots
of attention from the public as well government. There are so many enabling citizen that really
needs health care insurance and cannot afford it in todays society. Hopefully by the end of
President Obama term his health care policies will be implemented and working for all citizen of
the United States.

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References
Obama Care Facts. Obama Care Pros and Cons List.
http://obamacarefacts.com/obamacare-pros-and-cons.php
On The Issues. Bill Clinton on Health Care.
http://www.ontheissues.org/Background_Health_Care.htm
On The Issues. Obama Care. http://www.ontheissues.org/Background_Health_Care.htm
Pfiffner James P., President Clintons Health Care Reform Proposals of 1994.
http://www.thepresidency.org/storage/documents/President_Clintons_Health_Care_Refor
m_Proposals.pdf

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