The Politics of Health and HealthCare

In the year 1993, the president of the United States of America, Bill Clinton allowed the first lady Hillary Rhodam Clinton to be in charge of a 1300-page document that would give a good plan for universal coverage of health (Obama, 2016). The document would ensure that all businesses and business workers were insured. The stakeholders included the office of the president, the Senate and the lower house. The outcome is that the legislation ensured that all workers had health insurance and up to today the law is still in place and it has allowed workers to be insured incases of risks and accidents. The businesses that are insured are also compensated by the insurance companies. The legislation was proposed by the Democrats (Obama, 2016).

In the year 1997, President Bill Clinton signed into law legislation that would create a state-federal program to provide coverage for millions of children in families of modest means whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid (Hoffman, 2008). The outcome of the program is that it ensured that children from well of families were put in a Medicaid insurance scheme which is the national health insurance service providing institutions for citizens in the United States of America. The legislation was proposed by the democrats (Hoffman, 2008).

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In 2003, President George W. Bush persuaded Congress to help in adding the prescription drug to Medicaid health care (Hoffman, 2008). The legislation was an expansion program for older people. The outcome of the legislation was that the prescription drug was included in the Medicaid health care and the older people were able to access the service (Hoffman, 2008). The older people suffer from old age-related diseases and the legislation would help them because there is a proper record of previous prescriptions and the doctor would make the decision wisely. The stakeholders ware the ministry of health, the office of the president, the Senate, and the lower house.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton promoted the sweeping health care plan in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, but unfortunately, she lost to Obama. Obama who won the election would then lead the democrats’ congress party to legislate on a plan that would ensure every person has health insurance (Reisch, 2012). The stakeholders were the ministry of health, the senate and the lower house. The outcome of the legislation resulted in the formation of Obamacare that enabled all citizens to have a health insurance cover. The health care reform was proposed by Obama lead party which is the democrats (Reisch, 2012).

In 2010, the democrats legislated for a law that would extend the number of people under insurance to be more than 30 million uninsured people (Butler, 2016). The legislation was opposed by the republican party but was proposed by the democrats. The stakeholders were the democrats’ party both in the upper and the lower house. The ministry of health also had a great role to play in this reform. The outcome leads to an extension of the insurance to the uninsured people and when Obama left power, the same services are offered till today. The legislation has helped many people to access healthcare (Butler, 2016).

Health is a very important aspect of leadership for each state in the US. There have been many political issues that arise because of the legislations that often touch on health and health provision services. In 1993, the legislation was proposed by the democrats but was opposed by the republicans but because the democrats were many in both houses, they won it and it lead into the new law on health care (Jacobs & Skocpol, 2015). The majority seems to be influential each time there is health-related legislation and if they propose it then it becomes laws governing healthcare in the US.

There is difference between the current political climate as compared to that of the past that today, legislators in both houses of parliament are very informed and understand what the common citizens are going through to access healthcare services so as they legislate then make sure that the citizens are at the center of it and not for political gains while in the past, legislations on health were much of politics and one would support it based on the political gain of the legislators. The similarity of present and past is that in both cases, it is initiated by a party in the leadership of the country (Jacobs & Skocpol, 2015).

The recurring trend from the health care transformation is that all legislations are determined by who is in the position of leadership. When there is a new leader, the party in leadership is the one initiating legislation on health care (Bashshur et al., 2009). The party in leadership is also the majority in both houses and will ensure that the law is passed against the opposing party, which in most cases are the minority. Another recurring trend is that all are aimed at providing insurance to the less privileged in the society such as the old, children and workers who may not champion their rights (Bashshur et al., 2009).

In my opinion, health and health care is politically charged and polarizing because the number of diseases is increasing daily resulting in high mortality and morbidity rates. In the United States of America, the polarization of parties defines politics and also touches on the lives of common citizens who are voters and legislators are very keen in ensuring that they please their voters now and in the future.

References

Bashshur, R. L., Shannon, G. W., Krupinski, E. A., Grigsby, J., Kvedar, J. C., Weinstein, R. S., … Alverson, D. C. (2009). National telemedicine initiatives: essential to healthcare reform. Telemedicine and E-Health, 15(6), 600–610.

Butler, S. M. (2016). The future of the Affordable Care Act: reassessment and revision. Jama, 316(5), 495–497.

Hoffman, B. (2008). Health care reform and social movements in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 98(Supplement_1), S69–S79.

Jacobs, L., & Skocpol, T. (2015). Health care reform and American politics: What everyone needs to know. Oxford University Press.

Obama, B. (2016). The United States health care reform: progress to date and next steps. Jama, 316(5), 525–532.

Reisch, M. (2012). The challenges of health care reform for hospital social work in the United States. Social Work in Health Care, 51(10), 873–893.