To Do or To Argue...That is the Question

Debate has broke out in the United States over a universal health care plan since Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. A universal health care plan is a system of organized care for all members of a society; therefore, everyone in America would theoretically have free health insurance. Although over a century of debate has taken place, there has never been a universal health care system in the United States.

There has been many attempts in American history to begin a universal health care plan. Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to support a national insurance plan; however he felt it was not the government’s place to to mandate reforms (Matusiak). The American Association of Labor led a campaign for national insurance in 1906 (matusiak). This fell through because of the lack of support. Theodore Roosevelt’s distant cousin, Franklin Roosevelt was the next president to support a universal health care plan, but ran into other obstacles such as new deal and WWII instead of passing a national health care bill. The next president, Harry Truman believed so strongly in a universal health care plan that it became the main topic of debate of national politics (Matusiak). “ The opposition to the plan spoke of the plan looking a lot like socialism” (Matusiak). America was widely against the spread of communism at the time, therefore a “socialistic” view of medicine was immediately shut down. This was not the last of the presidents that wanted to create a national health care plan. Other presidents like Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton tried to pass different universal health care bills, both were unsuccessful (Matusiak). The national health insurance debate continues today as costs of medical care continues to rise. President Obama ...

... middle of paper ...

...rrent system or universal health care, history shows that we will just continue to argue over what needs to be done instead of doing something about it.

Works Cited

Collier, Roger. “Medicare needs a tune-up, says CMA president.”CMAJ: Canadian Medical

Association Journal 182.9(June 2010):E417. Health Reference Center Academic. Web. 23 Jun. 2010.

Matusiak, Matthew M. “A national health care system/ program:a review of US history and cur- rent debate.” The Internet Journal of Healthcare Administration 3.2(July 2005). Health Reference Center Academic. Web. 28 Jun. 2010.

Torre, Ralph. “The Values That Shape the Health-Care Debate; What will it take to change us into a nation that embraces universal health care, even at the expense of

unlimited personal freedom?” Business Week Online. (2010). Health & Wellness

Resource Center. Web. 29 Apr. 2010.