American Decades
Health Care Debate
Major Debate.
Health-care reform was one of the first and most divisive major-policy initiatives of the Clinton administration. Health care first became a public policy issue for Americans after World War II, when President Harry S Truman advocated national health insurance. The American Medical Association (AMA), however, vigorously opposed it, and it was not until 1965 that Medicare and Medicaid were finally established, covering retired persons and those on welfare, respectively. The remainder of the population was still responsible for paying for its own health care either through employers or out-of-pocket. The working poor were most at risk under these conditions because they did not qualify for Medicaid and generally did not work for employers that offered medical insurance. From the 1960s to the 1980s, health-care costs continued to rise because of inflationary trends and technological advances. By the 1990s even employers...
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1990's Government and Politics
