Healthcare in the United States:

Running head = HEALTH CARE IN AMERICA
SOCIOLOGY
Health care in America
Evolution of health care act in America
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Health care in America 1
The principle right of existence applies, in terms of health assistance at the time of need
for every citizen and it should not be discriminated based on someone’s financial status or based
on an individual’s religious beliefs (Lagomarsino, Garabrant, Adyas, Muga, & Otoo,
2012). In a report published by (Semega, Kollar, Creamer, & Mohanty, 2019)
approximately 38.1 million people, who come close to 11.8 percent of the total pollution comes
under the poverty line. A report published by (Montgomery , 2020) indicated that only 88 %
of Americans had health coverage in the year of 2018. The following paragraphs will elaborate
on the history of health insurance reform in America along with the current condition of
government assisted health insurance.
The efforts of political leaders, government officials, and some trade unions to provide
health benefits for their respective population can be traced back to late 1800; however, there is
still a long way to go in terms of providing universal health coverage. In the initial years, the
American government did not provide any insurance scheme for the public or working-class
people. The first health-related issuance policy was introduced by the American Association of
Labor (AALL) in 1915, though the bill only covered working-class people and who had their
income less than 1200 $ per year (Wegerer, 2014). In the prudential period of Franklin D.
Roosevelt (FDR) (1933-1945), FDR tried to include health insurance in his social security bill in
1935, however, due to its strong opposition by the American medical association later health
insurance was removed from social security bill. In 1943 a compulsory national health insurance
policy also named as Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill, continually introduce for the 14 times in the
senate, however, it was not approved due to continuous opposition (Kendall Sr, 2014).
The introduction of Medicare/ Medicaid in the year as a program for the care of the aged
population, which was further refined in terms of coverage on voluntary insurance with

Health care in America 2
comprehensive welfares and general practitioner service. The proposal of Medicare was finally
introduced as law in 1965 (Baicker & Goldman, 2011). In the year 1972 Medicare service
was further extended to include people with a terminal illness, physically disabled and people
aged above 65 years (Blumenthal, Davis, & Guterman, 2015). The Medicaid program was
initially introduced to the citizen of the USA; provide help to people needing financial help.
However, it had evolved over a period of time due to various reforms introduced by congress and
at present, it includes physically or mentally disabled peoples, people with low income, pregnant
women and the people in the need of long term medical assistance. In the year 1997, the
Medicaid plan included children’s health insurance plan which delivered preventive health
benefits to the 11 million children including all the 50 states along with the District of Columbia.
The MMA act in 2003 further introduced the availability of prescription drugs for the elderly and
for the person of mental or physical disability (Kelly, 2011).
Although the United States of America (USA) is one the largest country in terms of total
area and ranked number 1 in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) it does not provide
universal health coverage to its population. Countries like France, Switzerland, Israel, Australia,
New Zealand, and the United Kingdom have its 100 % population under insurance coverage also
known as universal health coverage (Martinson & Reichman, 2016; Montgomery ,
2020).The aforementioned paragraphs indicate the struggle of various American governments in
terms of introduction and provision of universal health coverage for its citizens. However, the
attempt was opposed by various unions and political parties due to their personal views and
political mindset. The introduction of Medicare and Medicaid provided some relief for the
American population mainly coming under the category of elderly or physically or mentally
disabled or minor children. However, a large number of populations did not come under the