Recent incremental health care reforms in the US: A way forward or false promise?

US health care is well known for its high cost and high levels of uninsurance. Following the political failure of the Clinton health care reform plan many commentators suggested that incremental reform was the way to remedy these problems. To be transformative, however, incrementalism must entail more than the claim that incremental reforms are politically viable; rather, such reforms must represent a coherent strategy. To evaluate the prescription of incrementalism, this article assesses a range of recent incremental health care reforms. It concludes that these did not constitute a coordinated and consistent strategy, leaving the case for incrementalism unproven. © The Policy Press, 2006.