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The History of Health Care Reform: Harry Truman

On November 19, 1945, only 7 months into his presidency, President Harry S. Truman sent a message to Congress proposing a new national health care program. In his message, Truman argued that the federal government should play a role in health care. In the message Truman wrote "The health of American children, like their education, should be recognized as a definite public responsibility." Truman's plan wanted to insure that all communities, regardless of their size or income level, had access to doctors and hospitals. Truman saw what he called an urgent need for such measures, and he added that "About 1,200 counties, 40 percent of the total in the country, with some 15,000,000 people, have either no local hospital, or none that meets even the minimum standards of national professional associations. "



Truman's proposed legislation that would improve the state of health care in the United States. He asserted that this could be done by addressing a number of separate issues:

1. The lack of doctors, dentists, nurses, and other health professionals in many rural or otherwise lower-income areas of the United States: Truman proposed to attract doctors to the areas that needed them by supplementing their incomes with federal funding.
2. The lack of quality hospitals in rural and lower-income counties: Truman proposed to provide government funding for the construction of new hospitals in these areas. To insure quality hospitals were built, the plan also called for the creation of national standards for hospitals and other health centers.
3. The need for a board of doctors and public officials to create standards for hospitals and ensure that new hospitals met those standards: Truman also wanted the board to be responsible for directing federal funds into medical research.

The most controversial aspect of Truman's plan was a call for a proposed national health insurance plan. In his November 19, 1945 message, Truman called for the creation of a national health insurance fund to be run by the federal government. This fund would be open to all Americans, but would be optional. Participants could pay monthly fees into the plan, which would cover the cost of any and all medical expenses that arose in a time of need. The government would pay for the cost of services rendered by any doctor who chose to join the program. The insurance plan would also give a cash balance to the policy holder to replace wages lost due to illness or injury.

President Truman's health proposals came to Congress in the form of a Social Security expansion bill. The bill was co-sponsored in Congress by Senators Robert Wagner (D-NY) and James Murray (D-MT), along with Representative John Dingell (D-MI). The American Medical Association (AMA) launched a spirited attack against the bill, capitalizing on fears of Communism in the public mind. The AMA characterized the bill as "socialized medicine", and called Truman White House staffers "followers of the Moscow party line". Organized labor was the main public advocate of the bill, but that sector had lost much of its goodwill from the American people due to a series of unpopular strikes.

Here is a letter that Truman wrote to a critic of his proposed health care program, to which he responded with characteristic Truman bluntness:



With the outbreak of the Korean War, President Truman was forced to abandon the health insurance bill. Although Truman was not able to create the health program he desired, he was successful in raising public awareness about the issue of health care in America. During his Presidency, the not-for-profit health insurance fund Blue Shield-Blue Cross grew from 28 million policies to over 61 million.

Truman would receive some vindication latter, when on July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare bill into law at the Harry S. Truman library & Museum.