Legislative Acts Shaping the Healthcare

Legislative Acts Shaping the Healthcare System: A Look at the Past and Future

With Hillary Clinton's bid for the presidency just ended, the subject of healthcare has been thrust into the spotlight. More specifically, Clinton's bid for the presidency, Michael Moore's provocative documentary Sicko, and this year's Democrat and Republican national conventions have forced the public and government's eyes to the issue of government intervention in health care. Although a variety of critics such as Moore and Clinton have discussed a need for further legislation regarding the relationship between the federal government and the health care industry, congress has addressed the issue in the past. A short summary of the 1974 and 1966 acts regarding public healthcare will allow readers to understand the evolution of the healthcare system and the need for further legislation.

The most recent policy-altering act regarding the national healthcare system was passed in 1974as the National Health Planning and Resources Development Act. Sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy and signed into law on January fourth, 1975, as H.R. 16204. Intended to establish the effective use of healthcare resources on a federal and state level, the act was passed to amend the Public Health Service Act ("S.2994" nd). According to Rubel, the act "provided a new, unified approach to resolving the problems of access, cost, and quality care" (1976, p.3). This unified approach consisted of the development of state and nationwide agencies "responsible for health planning and resources," federal funding for the creation and modernization of healthcare facilities, and an emphasis on sovereign state and local healthcare agencies backed by federal financial and technical provisions (Rubel 1976, p.4). The act structured the healthcare system by requiring strong, certified state healthcare facilities and programs, backed by federal government resources (Rubel 1976, p.4). What made the act truly unique, however, was its creation of Health Systems Agencies, of HSAs, that serve as community health planning agencies. Eventually, these HSAs would go on to manage local hospitals and regulate the profit hospitals could make from providing services ("Health Planning's Beginning: A Tribute to Dr. Henrik Blum" 2006). Thus, the act is important in understanding how the healthcare system works because it gave power to the state governments as opposed to federal.

While the act of 1974 may have been the most comprehensive act that shaped the healthcare system as we know it today, it came on the shoulders of the 1966 Comprehensive Health Planning Act. In fact, the 1966 act created Comprehensive Health Planning Agencies, precursors to the Health Systems Agencies that so revolutionized the healthcare system in 1974. Similarly, the 1966 Comprehensive Health Planning Agencies were the precursors of Health Maintenance Organizations, or HMOs, that are still integral in the planning and structuring of the healthcare system ("Health Planning's Beginning: A Tribute to Dr. Henrik Blum").