About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

3 Stan. L. & Pol'y Rev. 146 (1991)
Public Opinion and Efforts to Reform the U.S. Health Care System: Confronting Issues of Cost-Containment and Access to Care

handle is hein.journals/stanlp3 and id is 148 raw text is: Public Opinion and Efforts to Reform the U.S. Health Care System: Confronting Issues of Cost-Containment and Access to Care by Robert J. Blendon Karen Donelan For the third time in the post- World War II period (earlier de- bates occurred in the Truman and Nixon presidential terms), national attention is focused on whether the United States should reform its current health care system and enact a universal health insurance program. Opinion polls indicate that support for a national health plan is at a 40-year high'. Since The American public is deeply anxious about its ability to cope with rising medical costs in the future. 1989, nine national and statewide surveys indicate that between 60 and 72% of Americans favor such a plan. Some of these figures indicate that current public enthusiasm for a comprehensive national health insur- ance program exceeds the level of popular support for Medicare in the year prior to its enactment. In fact, a recent Roper Organization (a national polling organiza- Robert J. Blendon, Sc.D., is a Professor and Chairman of the Depart- ment of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard University School of Public Health. Karen Donelan, Ed.M., is a Research Specialist and Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard University School of Public Health. tion) survey indicates that 69% of Americans surveyed approve ex- tending Medicare coverage to all citizens.2 Before discussing the issues that underlie this new wave of interest in a national health plan, it seems worthwhile to explore why the more than 50 national health insurance initiatives that have been introduced in the U.S. since World War II have all failed. Many of these efforts were comprehensive in scope, included well developed cost- containment programs, and were sponsored by prominent leaders from the public and private sectors and by health organizations.' The dynamics behind the rejection of these previous proposals clearly have implications for any future debate about this issue. For many years, historians and policy analysts have suggested that the failure of earlier national health proposals resulted primarily from the continued and strident opposition of the medical profession to the imple- mentation of such a plan. While acknowledging the crucial role organized medicine has played in the failure of STANFORD LAW & POLICY REVIEW 146

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most