Patients' Rights to Care Under Clinton's Health Security Act: The Structure of Reform
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-1994
ISSN
1541-0048
Publisher
American Public Health Association
Language
en-US
Abstract
Like most reform proposals, President Clinton's proposed Health Security Act offers universal access to care but does not significantly alter the nature of patients' legal rights to services. The act would create a system of delegated federal regulation in which the states would act like federal administrative agencies to carry out reform. To achieve uniform, universal coverage, the act would establish a form of mandatory health insurance, with federal law controlling the minimum services to which everyone would be entitled. Because there is no constitutionally protected right to health care and no independent constitutional standard for judging what insurance benefits are appropriate, the federal government would retain considerable freedom to decide what services would and would not be covered. If specific benefits are necessary for patients, they will have to be stated in the legislation that produces reform.
Recommended Citation
Wendy K. Mariner,
Patients' Rights to Care Under Clinton's Health Security Act: The Structure of Reform
,
in
84
American Journal of Public Health
1330
(1994).
Available at:
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.84.8.1330
