Matthew R. Farley *
Health care reform has been a primary goal of presidential candidates for the past half-century. At least since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and the inception of the Medicare system in 1965, the primacy of achieving extensive and efficient health care in American policymaking cannot be seriously disputed. Currently, health care costs seem uncontrollable, and nearly fifty million Americans remain uninsured. Continuing into modern times, a cornerstone of President Bill Clinton‘s first term in office was to provide health care for all Americans. And although Democrats held a majority of seats in both chambers of Congress at the time, Clinton‘s attempt to revamp the health care system failed remarkably.
*Law Clerk to the Hon. Thomas E. Johnston, United States District Judge for the Southern District of West Virginia. J.D., 2010, University of Richmond School of Law; B.A., 2007, University of Mary Washington.