A Short History of the Health Care Debate

Franklin Roosevelt identified health care as a right, but never pushed for it. Harry Truman campaigned for a government program, but it was under Dwight Eisenhower that employers began to offer health insurance as a tax-free benefit.


John Kennedy introduced the initial Medicare legislation, which did not pass. Notice that he compares the American health care system unfavorably to those in Europe.






Harry Truman was the first president to actively champion universal health care. Although it was a central part of his epic 1948 campaign, Truman never proposed actual legislation. Members of his administration devised the original concept of Medicare, and in 1965, Truman became the first American to enroll in the program:


Richard Nixon's health care plan, though not passed, changed the terms of the debate from government-driven universal care to general access through the private insurance system, the approach eventually adopted by President Obama. Don't miss the closing remarks in this video.


Bill Clinton, as ever conversant in policy matters, summarizes the pros and cons of different approaches to universal health care. Clinton's own attempt at health care reform collapsed under attacks from the health insurance industry and a unified Republican opposition. Ironically, one Republican alternative featured the mandates that the party later decried as socialism when proposed by Barack Obama.


March 23, 2010: Barack Obama signs health care reform into law 62 years after Harry Truman made the first serious proposal to guarantee health care to all Americans:


Mercy and old City Park oaks near Marconi and Harrison...

Whitman, as Whitman would have wanted (thanks, Editilla)...

HBD to JMG...


Turbulent April...

Harry Truman campaigning for president in 1948: