Although passed by Congress with overwhelming support, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (a.k.a. Kennedy-Kassebaum) created new federal powers whose inclusion in the Clinton health care plan had helped defeat it just three years earlier. The Act’s passage, like Medicare’s, shows how controversial proposals can be successfully repackaged by incrementalism, misrepresentation, and tying them to popular reforms.
Charlotte Twight is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Professor of Economics at Boise State University.
Government and PoliticsGovernment PowerHealth and HealthcareHealth InsuranceMedicare and Medicaid
Other Independent Review articles by Charlotte Twight
Fall 2017 Passing the Affordable Care Act: Transaction Costs, Legerdemain, Acquisition of Control
Winter 2015/16 Through the Mist: American Liberty and Political Economy, 2065
Fall 2015 Dodd–Frank: Accretion of Power, Illusion of Reform
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