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Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act of 1993

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The Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act of 1993 (S. 1770, abbreviated HEART) was a health care reform bill introduced into the United States Senate on November 22, 1993, by John Chafee, a Republican senator from Rhode Island, and Chair of the Republican Health Task Force.[1] It was co-sponsored by eighteen other Republican senators, including then-Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, and two Democratic Senators, Bob Kerrey of Nebraska and David Boren of Oklahoma.[2] It was read twice in the Senate, but was neither debated nor voted upon.[3][4]

Many of the ideas in the bill were originally proposed by Stuart Butler in 1989, when he worked at The Heritage Foundation,[5] however, some conservatives believed that it was too liberal.[6] It was introduced as an alternative to legislation unveiled earlier that year by then-President Bill Clinton.[7] As a bipartisan bill, it was one of a few comprehensive health care reform bills not to be introduced along party lines as of 2024.[8][9]

Comparison with Affordable Care Act

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It shared many important features with the Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010 on March 23, 2010, including the individual mandate,[10] which was upheld by the Supreme Court in NFIB v. Sebelius as a reasonable exercise of congressional taxing authority.[11] However, there were some differences between HEART and the ACA, including that HEART did not require employers to contribute to the cost of their employees' premiums, and did not require states to expand Medicaid, a provision of the ACA that was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in NFIB v. Sebelius.[12] Also, HEART, unlike the ACA, included medical malpractice tort reform.[13]

References

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  1. ^ Mertens, Maggie (24 February 2010). "SCOTUS Blog Overview of the Supreme Court ruling in NFIB v. Sebelius". Kaiser Health News. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  2. ^ Chafee, John H. (1993-11-23). "S.1770 - 103rd Congress (1993-1994): Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act of 1993". www.congress.gov. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  3. ^ "Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act of 1993 Actions". Congress.gov. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Summary Of A 1993 Republican Health Reform Plan". Kaiser Health News. 23 February 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  5. ^ Akadjian, David (3 December 2013). "How to Get Republicans to Support the Affordable Care Act". Washington Spectator. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  6. ^ "CQ Almanac Online Edition". library.cqpress.com. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  7. ^ Quadagno, J (February 2014). "Right-wing conspiracy? Socialist plot? The origins of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act". Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. 39 (1): 35–56. doi:10.1215/03616878-2395172. PMID 24193605.
  8. ^ Wyden, R.; Bennett, B. (1 May 2008). "Finally, Fixing Health Care: What's Different Now?". Health Affairs. 27 (3): 689–692. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.27.3.689. PMID 18474958.
  9. ^ Dawes, Daniel E. (2016). 150 Years of ObamaCare. JHU Press. p. 72. ISBN 9781421419640.
  10. ^ Klein, Ezra (25 June 2012). "Unpopular Mandate". The New Yorker. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  11. ^ "National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  12. ^ "National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  13. ^ Qualls, Ellen (12 November 2013). "Obamacare "was the Republican plan in the early '90s."". Politifact. Retrieved 28 May 2016.