Health Care Reform in America: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Health care providers, the insurance industry, and all of us as health care consumer continue to experience the difficult birth pangs of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("ACA" or the "Act"). Political battles rage in many states over whether to adopt the Medicaid expansion option called for by the Act, numerous congressional attempts to repeal parts or all of it have been mounted and not doubt will continue, and two lawsuits challenging important provisions of the Act have reached the United States Supreme Court. The natural inclination is to view the ACA as unique in its scope, impact and political implications. But such a view is myopic, for the road to health care reform in America is well traveled. Every American presidential administration following the end of World War II has, to some extent, proposed or supported changes to the health care system in this country. And many of those previous reform proposals hold similarities to some provisions in the ACA.

This is not the first time the nation has debated controversial health care reform proposals. This is not the first time bitter partisan politics have complicated, and sometimes obfuscated, attempts at reform. Some attempts at health care reform have succeeded and some have failed, and the political process has often been ugly and divisive. Here is a look at some past attempts at health care reform in the post war era: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

An earlier version of this article was published in the Dec. 13/Jan. 14 edition of the Nashville Bar Journal. It was updated by the author for the Maine Bar Journal and is printed here with the permission of the Nashville Bar Association.