President Harry Truman was the first president since Woodrow Wilson to bring about a public discussion about the health care system. Unfortunately, that is about as close as he came to passing any kind of reform.
His first term consumed by the war and international politics, he was reelected in 1948 with the personal charge to make a serious impact on domestic policy. Health care was atop this list.
With an approval rating hovering in the mid seventies, his 1948 domestic plan was bold. He outlined his health care policy initiatives in his State of the Union address on January 7th, 1948:
"I have often and strongly urged that this condition demands a national health program. The heart of the program must be a national system of payment for medical care based on well-tried insurance principals. This great Nation cannot afford to allow its citizens to suffer needlessly from the lack of proper medical care."
"Our ultimate aim must be a comprehensive insurance system to protect all our people equally against insecurity and ill health."
The start of the Korean War in late 1949, along with fierce special interest and congressional opposition began the precipitous decline of Truman's approval rating and political power. The eventual government take over of the steel mills in 1951 drained what little capital he had left.
With the lowest approval ratings in the history of the presidential office and a congress united against him, reform was dead before specifics were even on the table. National healthcare was taken off the national docket for almost 15 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment