The Kassebaum–Kennedy Bill — The Limits of Incrementalism

When Senators Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kans.) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) proposed the legislation that became the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, 1 “portability” became a catch phrase for the bridging of gaps in our fragmented health insurance system. Since about two thirds of Americans are insured through their employers, the loss of a job has often meant the loss of a health plan. And with the rise of medical underwriting and the widespread practice of denying new insurance to people with preexisting conditions, that loss may be permanent. At the Kassebaum–Kennedy hearings, there were accounts of people suddenly deemed . . .