Long time coming: why health reform finally passed.
Health reformers have an established record of losing. Going into 2009, there were plenty of reasons to believe that they would fail again. A polarized political environment, soaring budget deficits, and myriad other obstacles stood in the way. Yet the Obama administration and congressional Democrats defied the odds. Democrats won the 2009-10 health reform battle by successfully applying lessons learned from past failures, including the importance of neutralizing interest-group opposition. The result is historic legislation that, given the constraints imposed by both the U.S. political and health systems, is probably as good as it gets.
Oberlander
Jonathan
J
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. oberland@med.unc.edu
D002017:Budgets / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D035082:Federal Government; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D019981:Health Care Sector / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D011057:Politics; D014481:United States