In celebration of  President’s Day this week, I gave a little history of healthcare and how the idea of becoming universal is not new to our current president-https://themedicalstrategist.com/blog/websites/happy-and-healthy-presidents-day-to-everyone/

Today, the Huffington Post has featured the same story (complete with photos from Getty’s library).  So, in case you missed their coverage, I have supplied you with a view of their feature,  See below.

1935

Former President Theodore Roosevelt champions national health insurance as he unsuccessfully tries to ride his progressive Bull Moose Party back to the White House.  He  favors creating national health insurance amid the Great Depression but decides to push for Social Security first. 

1942

Roosevelt establishes wage and price controls during World War II. Businesses can’t attract workers with higher pay so they compete through added benefits, including health insurance, which grows into a workplace perk.

1945

President Harry Truman calls on Congress to create a national insurance program for those who pay voluntary fees. The American Medical Association denounces the idea as “socialized medicine” and it goes nowhere.

1960

John F. Kennedy makes health care a major campaign issue but as president can’t get a plan for the elderly through Congress.

1965

President Lyndon B. Johnson’s legendary arm-twisting and a Congress dominated by his fellow Democrats lead to creation of two landmark government health programs: Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor.

1974

President Richard Nixon wants to require employers to cover their workers and create federal subsidies to help everyone else buy private insurance. The Watergate scandal intervenes.

1976

President Jimmy Carter pushes a mandatory national health plan, but economic recession helps push it aside.

1986

President Ronald Reagan signs COBRA, a requirement that employers let former workers stay on the company health plan for 18 months after leaving a job, with workers bearing the cost.

1988

Congress expands Medicare by adding a prescription drug benefit and catastrophic care coverage. It doesn’t last long. Barraged by protests from older Americans upset about paying a tax to finance the additional coverage, Congress repeals the law the next year.

1993

President Bill Clinton puts first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in charge of developing what becomes a 1,300-page plan for universal coverage. It requires businesses to cover their workers and mandates that everyone have health insurance. The plan meets Republican opposition, divides Democrats and comes under a firestorm of lobbying from businesses and the health care industry. It dies in the Senate.

1997

Clinton signs bipartisan legislation creating a state-federal program to provide coverage for millions of children in families of modest means whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid.

2003

President George W. Bush persuades Congress to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare in a major expansion of the program for older people.

2008

Hillary Rodham Clinton promotes a sweeping health care plan in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. She loses to Obama, who has a less comprehensive plan.

2009

President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress spend an intense year ironing out legislation to require most companies to cover their workers; mandate that everyone have coverage or pay a fine; require insurance companies to accept all comers, regardless of any pre-existing conditions; and assist people who can’t afford insurance.

2010

With no Republican support, Congress passes the measure, designed to extend health care coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people. Republican opponents scorned the law as “Obamacare.”

As you can see, lawmakers have had their hand in attempting the establishment of healthcare for all Americans for nearly three-quarters of a century!

The question is, “Have we done it right”?

Share your thoughts on this issue in the comment box below.