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Health Care Reform Research Paper

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U.S. Health Care Reform: 2009 to Present
Jeffery Petit
POL497 Political Science Capstone
Instructor: Paul Edleman
08/08/2016

For this assignment I selected “The Policy and Legislation Debate for U.S. Health Care Reform 2009 – present. I believe that we are in need of health care reform because the current system although previously revamp with the Afford able health care plan is still not working for everyone. In 2009, 50.7 million of the population in the United States had no health insurance; this reflects 16.7 percent of the total population, and 10 percent under the age of 18 (Wolf, 2010). The new law put forth by President Barack Obama is structured to help a greater number of people in poorer and middle-income …show more content…

Many people under the age of 65 remained without health insurance. Senator Edward Kennedy created a proposal resulting from a report reflecting the crisis of health care in this country, as did President Richard Nixon as a counter to the Kennedy plan. Kennedy’s proposal recommended a national health budget funded by payroll taxes; while Nixon’s plan called for voluntary participation and the replacement of the Medicaid program with a program that supported working, poor people and the unemployed. Health reform had become a bipartisan effort by 1974. A slow economy did not obstruct President Carter’s effort for National Health Care, but he did emphasize the need for cost-containment as it applied to this new initiative. This shift slowed the proceedings down greatly, with supporters such as Ted Kennedy proceeding with another plan – one that allowed a small package for businesses to provide to employees, an expansion of coverage for the aged and the poor, and “a new public corporation created to sell coverage to everyone else” (Hoffman, 2009). Neither plan passed Congressional …show more content…

According to Bovbjerg and Hadley (2007), the following is true: members of our society who have no insurance receive medical care in lesser amounts and in less timely fashion; health outcomes for those without insurance are 25 percent higher than for those diagnosed with chronic illnesses; families with no insurance carry a large financial burden – making the expansion of coverage a greater benefit than the costs that are for services added. We must find a solution to this problem; we are the wealthiest nation in the world and yet we provide no universal health care for our citizens. The level of the role the government must play must be explored until a resolve is found to the satisfaction of the majority.

Topic: U.S. Health Care Reform legislation debate and policy circa 2009 to present
Research Question: What role can and should the federal government play in the provision of health care?
THREE HYPOTHESES:
1. The government-run health insurance option will have a higher enrollment rate of Americans compared to the private insurance

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