President Clintons and Obamas Health Care Policies

Ervin Franklin
Dr. Rick Humphress
510 Public Administration Analysis
June 08, 2015

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The healthcare policies have been brought to the attention of American citizens for
awhile now. In 1993 President Clinton tried to revamp the healthcare policy but failed. (Pfiffner,
J.P., n.d.). There were many Americans without health insurance and President Clinton wanted
to help. He wanted universal coverage for each citizen and he threatened to veto any bill that did
not provide it. In the beginning the policy was going forward and citizen wanted the healthcare
policy fixed but no one could come up with an unbiased decision to fix the problem for
everyone. He had a task force that was supposed to produce the Administration proposal in a
100-day target (Pfiffner, J.P., n.d.). In the end there was a mostly minority citizen that was still
agreeing with the President on how to fix the problem. President Clintons policy was really
beginning to fail now because the democrat party was divided. I feel that President Clinton had a
strong start but he should have better planned the policy. He should have had a better strategy for
his task team and he probably would have been more successful in revamping the healthcare
policy.
Today President Obamas policy is still being set in stone and he is trying to finish what
President Clinton started years ago. President Obama wants every citizen to have affordable
healthcare insurance and also an insurance plan that each individual feel is right for them. He
plan on cutting out programs that are not being use, raise taxes to reduce the 4 trillion dollar
deficit, and make Medicaid more flexible and reduce Medicare excessive spending (The White
House, 2011). I feel that President Obama is on the right track and he need more supporters that
will continue to help him make improvement in todays society. Many changes have taken place
in the last few months and I am looking forward to more positive change that will benefit
everyone.

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There are many official and unofficial, and interest groups involved with the healthcare
policy that was administrated by President Clintons and now President Obamas healthcare
policy. The President, minorities both Blacks and Hispanics, each political party democrats and
republicans, and social interest group all play a role in the issues with the healthcare policies.
Policies have been trying to be implemented since President Clintons term in January 1993
(Johnson, R.T. 2013).
The President is the head of the nation and the role model for a lot of citizens.
The President is the leader of our country. He signs the laws of our country. Laws are
rules. He meets with other political groups to try and find common ground that is
unbiased to every citizen in America.
The minorities are not official players but they are very relevant in decisions
that are made. They can be a part of a population differing from others in some
characteristics and often subjected to differential in treatment. Women, blacks and
Hispanics are considered minority. Most minorities are middle and low class families.

The republicans and democrats are both political parties that differ in decision making.
Republicans believe that each person is accountable for his or her own place in society and the
government should allow each person the capability to secure the benefits of society for
themselves, their families and for those who are unable to care for themselves. Democrats
believe it is the responsibility of government to be concerned for all individuals, even if it means
giving up some individual rights and/or subordinating activities and initiatives. Democrats also
believe that the economy is too difficult and complicated for individuals to find the way to

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navigate. They believe that business decisions should be guided by government officials and in
the best awareness of labor unions.
Social interest groups are a group of people who have members of social movements that
they can better precede their interests and causes by uniting for shared and combined action. By
uniting to advance a common awareness or cause, social interest groups demonstrate that in
politics, there is strength in numbers.
The roles of the President, minority, political parties, and social interest group have all
been explained. Each role plays a vital role in interest of American citizens. Some roles are more
influence than others but they all are important. It takes each and every role to be very collective
to come up with decisions that are fair and useful to all citizens.
The President and the political parties are the most influence players in this healthcare
issue. The government has always played a very important role in the way the world perceives
the healthcare policy. The democrat president, both past and present have brought the healthcare
issues to the table. They have tried to ensure every American the right to healthcare and to be
treated fairly when it comes to their health.
When President Clinton was in office he started out successful and he allowed his wife
Mrs. Hillary Clinton to head this controversial issue. He had a task force that was giving a 100day target to produce the Administration proposal (Pfiffner, James P., n.d.). He had the attention
and the approval of majority of the public, mainly minority middle and low class families that
were in need of a healthcare plan. Starting in the December 1993, allegations and scandal started
to spread about President Clintons investment in the Whitewater development (Pfiffner, James

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P., n.d.). The media was a big help in allowing the public to become more involved in the
scandals and the public started to doubt President Clinton.
Now as of today President Obama is in office and he have been trying to revamp the
healthcare policy and he have been catching pure chaos. The government went on a shutdown for
a about 16 days (Botelho, G., Cohen, T., & Yan, H. 2013). Every American have been allowed to
purchase insurance online at a reasonable price. Today, the President is laying out a
comprehensive, unbiased deficit reduction framework to cut spending, bring down our debt and
increase confidence in our nations fiscal strength, while sustaining our economic recovery and
ensuring we are making the investments we need to be successful in the future.

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Reference
Botelho, G., Cohen, T., & Yan, H. (2013). Obama signs bill to end partial shutdown, stave off
debt ceiling crisis. Washington (CNN). Retrieved from
http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/16/politics/shutdown-showdown/
Johnson, R.T., (2013). Bill Clintons 1993 Attempt at Health Care Reform: Almost Sinking A
Presidency Retrieved from http://historyrat.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/1993-health-carereform-almost-sinking-a-presidency/
Pfiffner, James P. n.d. President Clintons Health Care Reform Proposals of 1994. ExecutiveLegislative Relations Retrieved from
http://www.thepresidency.org/storage/documents/President_Clintons_Health_Care_Refor
m_Proposals.pdf
The White House. (2011). Fact Sheet: The Presidents Framework for Shared Prosperity and
Shared Fiscal Responsibility. Retrieved from http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pressoffice/2011/04/13/fact-sheet-presidents-framework-shared-prosperity-and-shared-fiscalresp