The Clinton health care plan began in the minds of several key democrats to address the near-crisis level of the system of the early 90s. According to an article in a September 1993 issue of The Tech, the then-current health care system left nearly 35 million Americans uninsured, and an almost equal amount with inadequate coverage. Skyrocketing drug costs, the beginnings of the HMO organization scandals, and job loss were beginning to twist together, and the Clinton administration capitalized on the winds of change. Clinton began his quest for a functioning health care system with gusto; instead of declaring a basic coverage to reach those most desperately in need, or a system to address those rapidly losing

Leaders from all sides - left, right, lobby, business - came to the issue of health care reform with resolve. The failings of the system were self-evident, exposed, and costly. While Clinton and the left-wing pushed for immediate universal coverage, Republicans wanted to fix the system with a "mandate," requiring all Americans to buy into health insurance.5 The American Medical Association and the Health Insurance Association of America, "the two great, historic bastions of opposition to compulsory health insurance,"6 sided with the politicians for an employer mandate and universal coverage. Other groups on the left encouraged single-payer programs while others on right encouraged medical savings accounts and managed competition. The system was ripe for change, and everyone was eager to contribute; the Clinton administration had the possibility to create a solid, successful system, but instead, fell prey to the greatest enemy of government - politics. Said Joe Klein: "The Republicans enjoyed a double triumph, killing reform and then watching the jurors find the president guilty. It was the political equivalent of a perfect crime."7

When politics in D.C. can more accurately resemble a high school social network than a group of educated, concerned adults, Starr realistically attributed the lack of success to the labels attached to the reform. "The real problem was that time was spent developing a plan that should have been spent negotiating it." 10 The names associated with the bill were made worse by the details of the plan itself. The program would cover abortions, for instance, something definitively unacceptable to the Republicans. Home based, long-term care for the elderly and prescription drug benefits for Medicare were equally disputed. The taxes necessary to achieve real universe coverage were unacceptable in the then Republican congress, and the scandals of Whitewater prevented even moderate leaders from climbing aboard with the President for the health care plan.

Ultimately, the plan carried the Clinton name and, on that alone, presented huge political risk to all those who might associate with it. Furthermore, while the core of plan remained publicly popular, the details became topics of heated dispute. "Because we failed to edit the plan down to its essentials and find familiar ways to convey it," Starr lamented, "many people couldn't understand what we were proposing." The plan was lost in politics, and the Democrats, in the midst of a high-strung Washington popularity contest, were unable to represent the plan in any acceptable form.

Presiden

Some common words found in the essay are:
Republicans Home, Klein Republicans, Paul Starr, Diagnosis Treatment, Clinton Republicans, Starr Lady's, Association America, Joseph Lieberman, White House, Chamber Commerce, health care, care reform, health care reform, universal coverage, health care plan, care plan, health care system, clinton administration, clinton health, clinton health care, care system, starr attributed, too fast, starr wrote, paul starr attributed,
Approximate Word count = 1752
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)