Why Congress did not enact health care reform

Article Abstract:

Class relations played a major role in Congress's failure to enact health care reform despite its popularity. Evidence supports the popular belief that Congress represents the interests of the corporate and upper middle classes, rather than those of the majority. Mobilization of the working and lower middle classes would have increased the chances of passing a reform measure, despite the opposition of powerful interest groups. The US is the only advanced industrial nation without a system of universal health care coverage, and it is also the only major capitalist country that lacks a strong social-democratic or labor party to promote working-class interests.

Social classes, Social class

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Stuck in neutral: big business and the politics of national health reform

Article Abstract:

The lack of support by big business was a major factor in the failure of health care reform. That lack of corporate support was due to a combination of economic interests, business organization and the strategies of political leaders. Clinton tried to create a proposal that would appeal to big business, but he failed to involve them in the reform coalition. The strategy he pursued was exclusionary and oppositional, while the Republicans concentrated on obstructing reform. The failure of health care reform suggests that the country has become unable to adapt its social institutions to changing conditions.

Industrial policy

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Health care reform in the 103d Congress: a predictable failure

Article Abstract:

Health care reform was destined for failure because all of the proposals were too far from the preferences of the median voters in the House and the filibuster point in the Senate. A liberal to conservative ranking of legislators determines the position of the key median voters, which was then compared to the health care proposals and the status quo. Results suggest that the health care proposals were too liberal to appeal to the median, while the filibuster pivot in the Senate was even more conservative than the median.

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