Research paper proposal

For my research paper, I would like to delve into the long history of America’s healthcare reform debate. Politicians keep saying in their speeches that this is an issue that the country has been faced with for as many as one hundred years – most of them say fifty or sixty years, the number always seems to change according to the passion of the speaker at the time. At the moment, I am believe that the topic is very broad and needs to be narrowed down to something a little more specific, and I assume that this will happen naturally as I begin research. There are a few possible directions that I can see this paper going in: How has political rhetoric on this issue changed and remained the same? What affect does political rhetoric seem to have on the people? What seems effective and what seems to fall flat on voters?

I will begin research by first establishing, or reinforcing, my understanding of the reasons why reform must take place (I’m torn between whether or not I should inject my liberal bias into the paper or play both sides. I know I’ll end up giving the conservatives a fair representation, but I believe that if I were allowed to speak from a strictly leftist perspective, the essay as a whole would be a lot more interesting. We will see about that, I guess). There are a few independent groups that have produced lengthy studies about healthcare expenses in terms of the GDP, cost in the ER (out patient care) versus hospital stays (in patient care). From there, I’ll research the political debate. I will start with the debate that surrounded the establishing of medicare. I am already familiar with one aspect of that debate (Ronal Reagan saying communism would come out of reform). From there, I’ll figure out where else to go with the paper, but I have a good place to start.