Universal Health Care Policy

903 Words4 Pages

The United States spends the most money on healthcare than any other country, however the healthcare related results are almost non-existent. Growing healthcare costs continues to surpass the growth of the United States economy, and has been reliably doing so since the 1970’s.The results of the continuous rising healthcare costs jeopardize the economic well being of millions of individuals, families and businesses. Before the implementation of Affordable Care Act, forty million Americans were estimated to be uninsured. The strategic aim of universal health coverage is to ensure that everyone can use the health services they need without risk of financial ruin or impoverishment, no matter what their socio-economic situation.
The Affordable …show more content…

A piece of legislation, such as this, has to wait until the three steams of the policy setting reach a period often referred to as an open window of opportunity. In the agenda setting of ACA, every Congress between the 107th and 111th has had similar bill relating to healthcare reform being proposed and introduced in on both the floors of the House and the Senate. For example, in the 108th Congress, the House Committee on Education and Labor held nineteen different hearing in both the House and Senate on the issue of healthcare. While the House Energy and Commerce Committee held seventeen different hearings on healthcare access and the problems associated being noninsured during the 111th …show more content…

Several similar pieces of legislation have been introduced during the span of American history. A complex combination of past legislation mixed with the swing in national mood is responsible for the movement of the Affordable Care act onto the agenda. This is also due, in large part, to the fragmentation of the American system. A combination of people is needed to bring an idea to policy fruition, because no single source monopolizes the market of ideas. For example, health care legislation could be seen as taking place over the course of an entire century, from Theodore Roosevelt’s advocacy for a health care system to Bill Clinton’s failed effort in 1993. This form of incrementalism is a way for future policy makers to developing alternatives and proposals later down the road in the policy