Wk. Mariner, PATIENTS RIGHTS TO CARE UNDER CLINTONS HEALTH SECURITY ACT - THE STRUCTURE OF REFORM, American journal of public health, 84(8), 1994, pp. 1330-1335
Like most reform proposals, President Clinton's proposed Health Securi
ty Act offers universal access to care but does not significantly alte
r the nature of patients' legal rights to services. The act would crea
te a system of delegated federal regulation in which the states would
act like federal administrative agencies to carry out reform. To achie
ve uniform, universal coverage, the act would establish a form of mand
atory health insurance, with federal law controlling the minimum servi
ces to which everyone would be entitled. Because there is no constitut
ionally protected right to health care and no independent constitution
al standard for judging what insurance benefits are appropriate, the f
ederal government would retain considerable freedom to decide what ser
vices would and would not be covered. If specific benefits are necessa
ry for patients, they will have to be stated in the legislation that p
roduces reform.