The Clinton plan: a researcher examines reform

The Clintons are commended for bringing health care reform to the top of the domestic policy agenda. Their plan's basic elements are summarized and critiqued, with emphasis on the problems posed by its complexity. Five false assumptions that underlie most reform proposals are examined. They concern the burden of health care costs, the significance of firm size, the effect of health care costs on global competitiveness, the relation between insurance coverage and expenditures, and the implications of health care reform for the health of the population. Three critical issues for the future of health policy are discussed: the disengagement of health insurance from employment, the taming of technologic change, and coping with an aging society.