Chronology of Health Insurance Proposals, 1915–76

In July 1935, 1 month before the slgnmg of t,lle Socd Security Act, the first government henlth msurance bill m us 111st,ory \Ins mtroduced m Congress Sponsored by Senator Arthur Capper of Kansas, the leglslatlon aould have provided compulsory protectlon on the State level for wrtually all Ameixnn ~nge-enmers It attracted llttle notlce, however, because It lacked the bnckmg of key leg’slators and, even more nnportnnt,, the support of the Prwdent Frnnklm 1) Roosevelt’s Cabmet Committee on Econonnc Security enrller had recommended mcludmg henlth msurilnce m the socud secuty bill But the opposltlon of the Amerw.n Biedlcnl Assoantmn (AMA) and other groups convmced the President that the presence of ZI health msurnnce provmon might Jeopardize ncceptance of the rest of the package W’lth his ndvwxs dwlded over the proposal, he deaded ngamst nskmg for It Fzulure to brmg the issue to n vote m 1935 was not the first setback for the advocates of government henlth msuwnce) nor nns 1t to be the last Some 20 years enrller, dung the Hughtide of the progresswe era, prospects for such leglslntmn had appeared rather promlsmg-only to worsen followmg Wolld W’nr I Thwty more years were to pass before nny mnlor form of government health ,nsuKmc~ protectIon nns enncted Into lnw Four factors help explmn the 50.year delay bet\%een lden and Inn (1) The prevn~lmg Amerlcan attitudes tonard socud welfare measures, (2) problems nnphclt m the Federnl-State governmental strwture, (3) the complexity of the legw latwe process nnd Its vulnernblllty to opposltmn, and (4) the opposltlon of major mterests Unhke Europe, the Umted States m the early 1900’s experranced no great pressure for socxd leglslatlon from ather a radical pohtlcal party