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An Important Day in American Political History — The Medicare and Medicaid Law of July 30, 1965 [1]
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Date: 2025-07-30
The American Medical Association launched the first professional public relations campaign in history to oppose the president’s plan, which was defeated by 1950. Following the failure of national health insurance, employers bargained with labor unions to establish health insurance coverage for employees. Private, employer-based health insurance came to define the U.S. health system. However, the limitations of this type of health insurance, which did not cover the poor or senior citizens, would lead to demands for Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s.
After World War Two, Harry Truman was the first U.S. president to propose a comprehensive system of national health insurance.
Then and Now
To many Americans, healthcare is considered a human right. In fact, Harry S. Truman, 33rd president of the United States, said, “I put it to you, is it un-American to visit the sick, aid the afflicted or comfort the dying? I thought that was simple Christianity.” Harry Truman would carry on the legacy of FDR in trying to provide American men, women, children and elderly with national healthcare.
Truman would pave the way for future presidents such as Lyndon Johnson, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, whose administrations strove toward the same goal.
Truman’s plan was that all Americans would pay a certain amount in fees and taxes each month to cover the new healthcare program’s costs. With a Democratic controlled House, Truman’s proposal turned into a bill that would end up as part of the Social Security expansion, but it was quickly shot down as people began to fear an increase in taxes. Some people even feared the program would be a “Communist” act, giving too much control to the federal government.
This fear was spread specifically by the American Medical Association (AMA). The bill was also halted by Republican Senator Robert Taft’s Taft-Smith-Ball Bill, which would allow states to make healthcare private. As Republicans regained control of the House in 1946, Truman’s healthcare bill died.
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