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How Obama's Health Reform Push Compares to his Predecessors'

2 years ago

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As President Obama leans into the Sisyphean boulder of health care reform, he inches forward in the footsteps of several predecessors. No fewer than four U.S. presidents in the past century have tried and failed to enact universal health care legislation.

To be sure, Obama has had help along the way. And as the current congressional debate underscores, not all universal health care plans are created equal. But it seems likely that 44 will be the first president to achieve a congressional vote on universal health care legislation.

A look at how and when his Oval Office brethren fell short:

Theodore Roosevelt – A Plan Dead Before Arrival

After cutting ties with Republicans, Roosevelt entered the 1912 presidential election under the banner of the Progressive "Bull Moose" Party, which proposed universal health coverage. His new platform, known colloquially as the "Square Deal," placed state and federal governments in charge of "the protection of home life against the hazards of sickness."

Roosevelt lost the election to Democrat Woodrow Wilson, and the continued calls of Progressives for universal health care were eventually drowned out by the trench mortar blasts of World War I.

Harry S. Truman – Red-Washed

Parrying jabs from opponents of "socialized medicine," Truman attempted to pass universal health care legislation during the height of the "red scare" of the late 1940s and early 1950s.

"The health of American children, like their education, should be recognized as a definite public responsibility," Truman said in 1945, his first year in office.

Truman advocated a single system for all Americans that traversed the socio-economic ladder as part of his "Fair Deal" agenda. But members of the American Medical Association and the American Hospital Association, as well as a Republican-led Congress, opposed his initiatives. Republican Sen. Robert Taft said president's plan "is to my mind the most socialistic measure this Congress has ever had before it."

The proposal petered out in congressional committee talks.

Richard Nixon – "Water"-logged in Congress

Attempting to expand on President Lyndon Johnson's successful enactment of Medicare and Medicaid, Nixon adopted a pro-universal-health-care stance in the early 1970s.

"The time is at hand this year to bring comprehensive, high-quality health care within the reach of every American," Nixon said during his 1974 State of the Union address.

The administration's plan required all employers to offer health insurance for workers, while providing a government-subsidized program for those not covered through work. But Senate Democrats, most notably Edward Kennedy, opposed the president's initiatives in favor of government insurance for all.

Despite opposition, Nixon's plan seemed on course for congressional passage until the Watergate scandal extinguished the president's legislative initiatives. Economic troubles later in 1974 also derailed the health care debate.

Bill Clinton – Divided, It Fell

Roughly 20 years after Nixon's failure, Clinton reinvigorated the debate during his successful 1992 run for the White House. At that time, the U.S. economy was in a recession and people feared the loss of health care coverage.

Once elected, Clinton made reform the cornerstone of his administration's domestic policy. "Our health care is too uncertain and too expensive, too bureaucratic and too wasteful," he said during a 1993 congressional address. "After decades of false starts, we must make this our most urgent priority: giving every American health security, health care that can never be taken away, health care that is always there."

But as the nation's economy improved, the public's worries about losing health coverage subsided and partisan friction slowed the reform's early momentum. Congressional committees julienned the president's proposal, and in September 1994 Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell declared Clinton's health care reform bill uncookable.

Barack Obama – Still Truckin'

Obama's initiative has survived committee talks but still must pass both the House and Senate.

A vote is likely this month, although the final form of the legislation – as well as its chance of success – is far from certain.

Tagged: bill clinton, BillClinton, harry truman, HarryTruman, health care reform, HealthCareReform, richard nixon, RichardNixon, teddy roosevelt, TeddyRoosevelt

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