ABSTRACT
The larger vision behind this proposal was appealing, and profoundly so to many Republicans. It offered a way to extend health insurance to the uninsured, including some of their own strongest and most deserving supporters the hard-working self-employed and small-business people. Most of rights controversy over patients’ rights and managed care had little direct impact upon either Medicare or Medicaid, except that it occupied the attention of Congress and diverted effort from other substantive issues, including the plight of the uninsured, Medicare reform, and a pharmaceutical benefit. The administration and House and Senate leadership sought to combine patient protection with more general managed care reforms. Most of the headlines were about patient protection or a patients’ bill of rights. The most egregious example of gridlock was the patients’ bill of rights: six years and two bills passed but with Republicans and Democrats so opposed that the Senate boycotted the conference.
