Health Care and Reform

The President's plan proposed that consumers be able to choose between a traditional fee-for-service plan, managed care, or health insurance. He wants employers to cover 80 percent of health care premium costs, employees 20 percent; and he wants patients to pay no more than $10 per doctor visit in the managed care plan. In fee-for-service plans, the President proposes that patients pay 20 percent of charges--after a $200 individual or $400 family deductible. The maximum out-of-pocket expenditure: $1,500 per individual or $3,000 per family (Just the beginning, 1993, p. 64).

To ease the transition, the President proposed a roll-out by states no later than 1998, and a tax exemption during the eight-to-10-year transition period for employers who offer health benefits that exceed those specified in the proposed plan, or those

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private over a 90-day period by the experts in Hillary Rodham Clinton's White House Task Force on health reform. There is, therefore, almost no public understanding of the specific changes contemplated or their impact on people's day-to-day lives (Van Dyk, 1993, p. 12). Furthermore, President Clinton has chosen a strategy of confrontation; President Johnson sought consensus. LBJ needed little Republican or business community support to pass his program, but he sought it nonetheless. He held lengthy meetings in Washington and around the country with affected health care providers and others to seek their views and explain Administration intentions. President Clinton, badly needing support, decided instead to publicly chastise doctors, drug companies, vaccine makers, and other key players in the health care sector in an apparent attempt to polarize general opinion against them. Only recently has he and the First Lady reversed themselves and sought their input and support (Van Dyk, 1993, p. 12). Power in the Congress is more diffuse today than in 1965, making delay more certain. The power of congressional leaders and committee heads is far less than their counterparts enjoyed 30 years ago. The proposals will be examined by
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2613
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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