The New US Health Care Plan of 1993 and its Terminology

Abstract

The Clinton Administration is moving toward a fundamental change in the United States health care system. President Bill Clinton made the issue of health care reform one of his top campaign priorities and promised to introduce a reform pro posal for consideration in 1993. To that end, he asked his wife, Hillary Clinton, to lead the newly established Health Care Reform Task Force as it develops alternatives and the plan for health reform as promised to be introduced in 1993. While some uncertainty exists regarding how President Clinton will differ from candidate Clinton, current indications are that the health care reform will be somewhere between 'incre mental reform' which the opposition Republican Party favours, and the 'Single Payor/Canadian Style' approaches under which the federal government would take over most responsibilities now carried out by private health insurance companies.

The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the health reform plan, and to present the specialised terminology that is growing from the health reform initiatives.