Law Commons^™

Federalism And Health Care Reform: Is Half A Loaf Really Worse Than None?, Richard Briffault

Faculty Scholarship

Health care reform dominates the domestic agenda of the Clinton Administration. Policy analysts, media pundits, and ordinary citizens are abuzz with the once-arcane terminology of health reform – "managed competition," "single-payer," "regional alliances," "global budgets" – as they ponder the merits and demerits of the leading reform alternatives. At the center of the public debate are questions concerning the role of government in constraining health care costs, maintaining quality, and widening access. But in our federal system there are two governments that can address most domestic problems – the national government and the states – and, although considerable ink has …