title: The politics of health care reforms in U.S. presidential elections.
abstract: This article analyzes why people in the United States have major problems in accessing medical care that are due to financial constraints. The author suggests that the cause of these problems is the way in which medical care and elections are funded in the United States, with private sources being the largest component in the funding of both activities. The article includes a comparison of funding of the electoral process in the United States with similar electoral processes in the countries of the European Union, and postulates that privatization of the funding of U.S. elections (primary and general) is responsible for privatization of the funding of medical care-the root of people's problem in paying for their medical care. Privatization of election funding gives undue power to the economic, financial, and professional groups that dominate medicine in the United States.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. vnavarro@jhsph.edu
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Navarro
mesh_terms: D003469:Culture; D005062:European Union; D005380:Financing, Government / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005381:Financing, Organized / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000639:trends; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007354:Insurance, Major Medical; D017057:Medically Uninsured; D011050:Policy Making; D011057:Politics; D011332:Privatization / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States; D019472:Universal Health Insurance