Boomerang: Health Care Reform and the Turn Against Government

Rating:
Summary: Boomerang falls short.
Review: Boomerang by Theda Skocpol, a professor of government and sociology at Harvard University is subtitled, "Clinton's Health Security Effort and the Turn Against Government in U.S. Politics." And indeed, this book is about politics, not about the reality of what went on in those crucial years. One comes out with the impression that the book was written to bring the author to the attention of the Clinton administration.

For example, she writes that Hillary and President Clinton had found an ideal "middle way" for health care reform, but that unfortunately, their plan was sabotaged by the conservatives in 1994 following the lead of Bill Kristol, former chief aide to Vice President Dan Quayle. She laments that the Democrats were not able to marshall their forces at a critical time to pass what she obviously considers the "good" legislation of the Health Security Act.

While she gives Bill Kristol considerable, unflattering credit, she fails to even mention the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), whose landmark lawsuit, AAPS v. Clinton, against the secret Health Care Task Force, derailed to a significant extent the Health Security Act of 1993. Neither AAPS nor the lawsuit appears in the text or index. The book is therefore quite incomplete. In just one chapter of his book, The Seduction of Hillary Rodham, author David Brock gives by far a more accurate portrayal.

The book is an apologia for the ill-fated Health Security Act which carried with it a significant transfer of control of health care delivery from the private sector to the government bureaucrats and an assortment of central planners in the various levels of the bureaucracy, such as the Purchasing Cooperatives, the National Health Board, HHS, and numerous other alphabet soup government or quasi-government agencies that were to be established. The American people were correct in rejecting socialized medicine and the Clinton plan.

Rating:
Summary: Skocpol does it again
Review: Boomerang by Theda Skocpol, a professor of government and sociology at Harvard University is subtitled, "Clinton's Health Security Effort and the Turn Against Government in U.S. Politics." And indeed, this book is about politics, not about the reality of what went on in those crucial years. One comes out with the impression that the book was written to bring the author to the attention of the Clinton administration.

For example, she writes that Hillary and President Clinton had found an ideal "middle way" for health care reform, but that unfortunately, their plan was sabotaged by the conservatives in 1994 following the lead of Bill Kristol, former chief aide to Vice President Dan Quayle. She laments that the Democrats were not able to marshall their forces at a critical time to pass what she obviously considers the "good" legislation of the Health Security Act.

While she gives Bill Kristol considerable, unflattering credit, she fails to even mention the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), whose landmark lawsuit, AAPS v. Clinton, against the secret Health Care Task Force, derailed to a significant extent the Health Security Act of 1993. Neither AAPS nor the lawsuit appears in the text or index. The book is therefore quite incomplete. In just one chapter of his book, The Seduction of Hillary Rodham, author David Brock gives by far a more accurate portrayal.

The book is an apologia for the ill-fated Health Security Act which carried with it a significant transfer of control of health care delivery from the private sector to the government bureaucrats and an assortment of central planners in the various levels of the bureaucracy, such as the Purchasing Cooperatives, the National Health Board, HHS, and numerous other alphabet soup government or quasi-government agencies that were to be established. The American people were correct in rejecting socialized medicine and the Clinton plan.

Rating:
Summary: Skocpol does it again
Review: Theda Skocpol's "Boomerang" is nearly as interesting and sharp as her opinions. It's another winner.

Rating:
Summary: A fine, scholarly work on an important event
Review: This book promises to explain to the reader why the Clinton health care plan failed. The author does this rather well, pointing out how flaws in Clinton's "selling" of the program along with the disunity of sympathetic interest groups could not match the unity and purpose of Republican opponents. It is important to remember that Ms. Skocpol is a scholar, which can be good and bad. Her work is scholarly so it is well-proven (like a scholar) but also very narrow in scope (also, sadly, like a scholar). If you want an analysis of what went on behind closed doors in the 1993-94 fight or want a real discussion on the merits of health care reform, go elsewhere. But if you want an analysis solely on "why Clinton failed," this book does a very good job.

Rating:
Summary: A fine, scholarly work on an important event
Review: This book promises to explain to the reader why the Clinton health care plan failed. The author does this rather well, pointing out how flaws in Clinton's "selling" of the program along with the disunity of sympathetic interest groups could not match the unity and purpose of Republican opponents. It is important to remember that Ms. Skocpol is a scholar, which can be good and bad. Her work is scholarly so it is well-proven (like a scholar) but also very narrow in scope (also, sadly, like a scholar). If you want an analysis of what went on behind closed doors in the 1993-94 fight or want a real discussion on the merits of health care reform, go elsewhere. But if you want an analysis solely on "why Clinton failed," this book does a very good job.