Scandal and Timing: Health Care Voodoo

Obama’s major health care policy initiative is the seventh in a line of attempts stretching back to Woodrow Wilson in 1919. 

How could so many presidents fail? 

Except for Lyndon Johnson's Medicare/Medicaid Act of 1965, every president and major policy guru in the last half-century has been chewed up and spit out by a long list of bizarre and frustrating events. One of the biggest challenges for politicians looking to reform health care seems to be avoiding scandal or any unforeseen event that could crush the president’s political capital or the political will of Congress. As with a lot of things in life, it’s all about timing. 

In 1945, President Harry Truman outlined a proposal for comprehensive health insurance. The American Medical Association used the strong and fundamental fear of anything socialist, fueled by the “Red Scare” to scrap the entire initiative. 

The “New Frontier” pushed forward by President John F. Kennedy was one of the most ambitious attempts at domestic reform in United States history, including funding for health care, only to be derailed by a gunman atop the Texas Book Depository. 

While Lyndon Johnson successfully passed Medicare and Medicaid, the $700 billion black hole in Vietnam nixed more comprehensive health care changes. 

Richard Nixon’s half-hearted attempt to thwart rival Senator Ted Kennedy’s health care plan was ruined when the Supreme Court turned over the White House tapes to a special prosecutor, leading to his resignation amid the Watergate scandal. 

In 1969, then-junior Senator Ted Kennedy, widely considered a champion of health care reform in the Senate, drove his car off a bridge in Massachusetts, killing his passenger. The incident derailed his career long enough to stymie several important initiatives. 

Congressman Wilbur Mills ran a presidential campaign in 1972 relying heavily on heath care rhetoric. In 1974 he was arrested for driving while intoxicated—an Argentinean prostitute beside him. Added to his declining health, reform was cast aside. 

In 1979 President Jimmy Carter’s attempts at reform were ultimately torpedoed by the Iranian hostage crisis, an event that consumed the last months of his presidency. 

Public sentiment was strong for reform when Clinton took office, but a combination of special interest campaigns spearheaded by the infamous “Harry and Louise” ads and divided government led by Newt Gingrich’s “scorched earth” policy crushed the movement. 

Obama, only months into his term, has already wrestled with this “Health Care Voodoo.” Former Senator Tom Daschle, pegged to head both a special commission from the White House on heath care and the Department of Heath and Human Services, resigned from both over his failure to pay over $146,000 in taxes. 

It will be up to history whether Daschle’s leaving severely affects Obama's attempt at effective health care reform. The quick appointment and confirmation of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as head of the Department of Health and Human Services seems to have quelled any Daschle talk. 

Parente said Daschle’s departure is a blow to reform, and the clock is ticking—the longer Obama waits the less likely the chances anything is going to be done. Without Daschle's presence, Parente felt that the initial push to get reform measures passed has dwindled. 

“The sense of inevitability was pretty acute,” Parente said. 

But just two weeks later, that feeling was significantly reduced. 

However, Durenberger said that the loss of Daschle could be a good thing for Obama's reform efforts. He believes in Obama’s ability to unite the public and build coalitions to pass meaningful legislation. 

“I think it will force him to deal with [the health care issue] himself,” Durenberger said. “He has an instinct...I think the country will be better off.”