US HEALTH CARE REFORM

US Health Care Reform- Bill Clinton

US Health Care Reform- Bill Clinton

Introduction (1-2 pages)

A number of health care reform advocates, including President Bill Clinton, felt that rising economic costs associated with health care financing had broader consequences for social and economic policy in the United States. Writing in a rather critical retrospective piece, Clifford noted that the Clinton administration was convinced that welfare reform would be impossible without first implementing comprehensive health care reform. Clifford explained that many in the Clinton administration argued that a very large number of individuals are forced to remain on the welfare rolls simply to be able to have some means of coping with rising health care costs for their families. (Baum, 2001)

President Clinton did play a significant role in the ultimate development of a congressional battleground for the resolution of the comprehensive health care reform debate. Dougherty noted, for example, that President Clinton committed himself to congressional approval of a comprehensive health care reform proposal. On September 22, 1993, President Clinton expressed his desire for such action to a joint session of Congress and introduced details of his own plan. He explained that Clinton's proposal and the overall issue of comprehensive health care system reform would have to be resolved in the "national legislature"--the U.S. Congress.

Many people believe that health-care reform is the highest priority issue in the United States today. Although there has been an enormous struggle to discover a solution, answers have not been found, largely because people have been looking in the wrong places. The US political debates have focused on resolving conflicts over Healthcare Reforms. Budgetary limitations have spurred a debate over the financing issues of the Health Care Reforms. The debate on the financing issues of Health care Reforms has also gained attention in the United Kingdom. (Smith, 2000)The recent changes in healthcare policies of the US can be considered as one of the primary factors, which have created concerns among the British healthcare professionals. At present, the British healthcare system (the National Health Service program) provides healthcare services to its senior citizens but the budgetary issues are causing limitations to the effectiveness of the program. (Haas, 2001) After 50 years of the launch of this program, it faces similar changes as the US healthcare system is facing. The main issues in health care reforms are about quality, cost and the management of the implementing these reforms. (Bunch, 2000)

The Methodology (2-3 pages)

Bitzer's concept of the rhetorical situation

Lloyd Bitzer states that rhetorical discourse occurs in response to a rhetorical situation. Bitzer provides three key components that define and make-up any rhetorical situation: (Bitzer, 1968)

1. Exigence: "An imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be." There are many different kinds of exigencies, but a rhetorical one exists when discourse can positively modify it.

2. Audience: an "audience consists only of those persons who are capable of being influenced by discourse and ...