Might the voters reject healthcare reform after it's passed?
With Democrats having worked feverishly to pass sweeping Senate and House health care bills before year’s end, it is worth remembering that legislative success can be short-lived.
Few people outside health policy circles may recall it, but two decades ago, after Congress congratulated itself on the passage of another health care bill, a public uproar forced its repeal a mere 16 months later.
That legislation was the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act, which President Ronald Reagan signed into law in July 1988. The law’s intent was to give better financial protection to people enrolled in Medicare by limiting their out-of-pocket payments for things like hospital stays and doctors’ fees if they became very sick.
But this was not a free new entitlement, as Medicare beneficiaries were quick to realize. The new benefits would be financed by higher monthly premiums for Medicare enrollees and by a surtax paid by the more affluent enrollees.
Read entire article at NYT
Few people outside health policy circles may recall it, but two decades ago, after Congress congratulated itself on the passage of another health care bill, a public uproar forced its repeal a mere 16 months later.
That legislation was the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act, which President Ronald Reagan signed into law in July 1988. The law’s intent was to give better financial protection to people enrolled in Medicare by limiting their out-of-pocket payments for things like hospital stays and doctors’ fees if they became very sick.
But this was not a free new entitlement, as Medicare beneficiaries were quick to realize. The new benefits would be financed by higher monthly premiums for Medicare enrollees and by a surtax paid by the more affluent enrollees.