The History of Health Care Reform: Ronald Reagan
Long before he was president, Ronald Reagan was a vocal opponent of government sponsored health care. In fact in 1961 Reagan gave a speech that was recorded on a vinyl LP record, in which he criticized Social Security for "supplanting private savings and warned that subsidized medicine would curtail Americans' freedom". Reagan also said "pretty soon your son won't decide when he's in school, where he will go or what he will do for a living. He will wait for the government to tell him.
In the speech, Reagan opens by quoting socialist Norman Thomas as saying in 1927 that the American people would never vote for socialism, but "under the name of liberalism the American people would adopt every fragment of the socialist program." Reagan goes on to says that "Government has invaded the free precincts of private citizens," and that the U.S. government owns "1/5th of the total industrial capacity of the United States. One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project, most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it." Reagan cites the failure of president Harry Truman's national health insurance proposal as evidence of the American people's rejection of socialized medicine. In the recording Reagan is critical of Representative Aime Forand who introduced a health insurance bill which Reagan says would institute "compulsory health insurance" for all people of social security age. He quotes Forand as having said, “If we can only break through and get our foot inside the door, then we can extend the program after that." The Forand bill is described as being praised by socialists. Reagan says "They say once the Forand bill is passed this nation will be provided with a mechanism for socialized medicine capable of indefinite expansion in every direction until it includes the entire population. Now we can’t say we haven’t been warned."
Reagan went on to claim that the expansion of private health insurance was "simply an excuse to bring about what they wanted all the time: socialized medicine." Reagan warns against the danger of encroaching on the relationship between patients and doctors, and of an attack on doctors' freedoms. Reagan concluded by saying, "We are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children, what it once was like in America when men were free."
In 1980 when President Jimmy Carter was campaigning for re-election against Reagan, he told crowds that: "As a traveling salesman for the American Medical Association campaign against Medicare, my opponent sowed the fear that Medicare would mean socialism and that it would lead to the destruction of our freedom."
When the subject arose in a televised debate in late October, Reagan responded: "When I opposed Medicare, there was another piece of legislation meeting the same problem before Congress. I happened to favor the other piece of legislation and thought it would be better for the senior citizens. I was not opposing the principle of providing care for them." Carter's campaign accused Reagan of "rewriting history", saying that there was no such alternative legislation.
As president, Reagan did nothing to further the move towards national health insurance contemplated by Richard Nixon or Jimmy Carter. However Reagan was responsible for one important aspect of increased medical coverage. He signed a law requiring emergency rooms to treat anyone in need, regardless of their ability to pay.
By the mid 1980s, a practice known as "patient dumping" had became a major concern. Some hospitals would transfer patients in need of medical attention to other institutions to avoid footing the bill, or even discharging them before they were properly treated. One study done in Chicago found that patients who were transferred because they lacked insurance were twice as likely to die as those treated at the transferring hospital. The vast majority of these transfers were for the hospitals’ financial reasons, even though it delayed care and jeopardized patients’ health.
In 1986, Congress passed the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which contained the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. The law requires hospitals to treat patients in need of emergency care regardless of their ability to pay, citizenship or even legal status. It applies to any hospital that takes Medicare funds, which is virtually every hospital in the country. Many thought that Reagan might veto the bill because of his past statements regarding "socialized health care." But Reagan supported the legislation, which included a provision which allowed people to remain on their former employer's health insurance plan.
In the speech, Reagan opens by quoting socialist Norman Thomas as saying in 1927 that the American people would never vote for socialism, but "under the name of liberalism the American people would adopt every fragment of the socialist program." Reagan goes on to says that "Government has invaded the free precincts of private citizens," and that the U.S. government owns "1/5th of the total industrial capacity of the United States. One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project, most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it." Reagan cites the failure of president Harry Truman's national health insurance proposal as evidence of the American people's rejection of socialized medicine. In the recording Reagan is critical of Representative Aime Forand who introduced a health insurance bill which Reagan says would institute "compulsory health insurance" for all people of social security age. He quotes Forand as having said, “If we can only break through and get our foot inside the door, then we can extend the program after that." The Forand bill is described as being praised by socialists. Reagan says "They say once the Forand bill is passed this nation will be provided with a mechanism for socialized medicine capable of indefinite expansion in every direction until it includes the entire population. Now we can’t say we haven’t been warned."
Reagan went on to claim that the expansion of private health insurance was "simply an excuse to bring about what they wanted all the time: socialized medicine." Reagan warns against the danger of encroaching on the relationship between patients and doctors, and of an attack on doctors' freedoms. Reagan concluded by saying, "We are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children, what it once was like in America when men were free."
In 1980 when President Jimmy Carter was campaigning for re-election against Reagan, he told crowds that: "As a traveling salesman for the American Medical Association campaign against Medicare, my opponent sowed the fear that Medicare would mean socialism and that it would lead to the destruction of our freedom."
When the subject arose in a televised debate in late October, Reagan responded: "When I opposed Medicare, there was another piece of legislation meeting the same problem before Congress. I happened to favor the other piece of legislation and thought it would be better for the senior citizens. I was not opposing the principle of providing care for them." Carter's campaign accused Reagan of "rewriting history", saying that there was no such alternative legislation.
As president, Reagan did nothing to further the move towards national health insurance contemplated by Richard Nixon or Jimmy Carter. However Reagan was responsible for one important aspect of increased medical coverage. He signed a law requiring emergency rooms to treat anyone in need, regardless of their ability to pay.
By the mid 1980s, a practice known as "patient dumping" had became a major concern. Some hospitals would transfer patients in need of medical attention to other institutions to avoid footing the bill, or even discharging them before they were properly treated. One study done in Chicago found that patients who were transferred because they lacked insurance were twice as likely to die as those treated at the transferring hospital. The vast majority of these transfers were for the hospitals’ financial reasons, even though it delayed care and jeopardized patients’ health.
In 1986, Congress passed the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which contained the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. The law requires hospitals to treat patients in need of emergency care regardless of their ability to pay, citizenship or even legal status. It applies to any hospital that takes Medicare funds, which is virtually every hospital in the country. Many thought that Reagan might veto the bill because of his past statements regarding "socialized health care." But Reagan supported the legislation, which included a provision which allowed people to remain on their former employer's health insurance plan.