Why Was The Clinton Health Care Plan Successful

The purpose of this essay is to discuss why Clinton’s Health Plan was unsuccessful. It will detail the features of the plan, explain why it failed and describe the influence of the various interest groups and government entities in the process. It will also discuss the policy process and the key players involved and other circumstances that shaped this policy-making effort.
As with most presidents once they enter into office as Commander in Chief, they set out to leave their mark in U.S. history by doing something profound and worthy of being mentioned in history books. Some do so by trying to rectify the mistakes of their predecessors. Some do so by cementing their legacy through ground breaking legislation. Whatever the case may be, their
The 1,431 page document outlined the President’s vision of the way health services should be provided and financed (Longest, 2010). The bill was advantageous in the sense that it sought to correct a myriad of failures within the health care system. The benefits package consists of the following items and services: hospital services, services of health professionals, emergency and ambulatory medical and surgical services, clinical preventive services, mental health and substance abuse services, family planning services and services for pregnant women, hospice care, home health care, extended care services, ambulance services, outpatient laboratory, radiology, and diagnostic services, outpatient prescription drugs and biologicals, outpatient rehabilitation services, durable medical equipment and prosthetic and orthotic devices, vision care, dental care, health education classes, and investigational treatments (Randall,
We also need to examine the political environment during this time. In the last two years of the Bush presidency, the economic recession frightened many middle- and lower-income Americans (Yankelovich, 1995). The hesitancy to embrace this new health care reform was understandable. People simply did not want to have to sacrifice financially for the sake of the new health care plan. When legislation calls for sacrifice, voters insist on having a say in its formation (Yankelovich, 1995). Most politicians take the time to meet with the people and seek out their ideas and opinions about what they expect from their government. Unfortunately, this was not the case with Clinton’s reform plan. Technical experts designed it, special interests argued it, political leaders sold it (Yankelovich, 1995). People feared that government would have too much control and worried about government intervention and the possibility of money being misappropriated or wasted. The bottom line was that the basic construct and idea for this reform bill lay solely in the hands of big government and did not have its roots in the desires and demands of this nation’s people.
Clinton faced strong opposition from the Republicans which made implementation of the bill extremely difficult. Republicans favored tax credit approaches to health coverage