It is impossible to imagine the modern world without medical insurance. However, Americans could not always benefit from this essential phenomenon. In his message to Congress on November 19, 1945, Truman offered a health program. He emphasized the necessity to provide adequate public-health services, establish more hospitals, create medical insurance, and others (Warner & Tighe, 2001). It was necessary because “by the 1950s, more and more people survived formerly fatal injuries and diseases,” but with severe consequences for their health (National Museum of American History, n.d. para. 2). However, Truman’s proposal did not face overall positive attitudes, and the American Medical Association (AMA) actively opposed it. Thus, the principal purpose of this paper is to explain the reasoning behind this confrontation.
On the one hand, the AMA was against the health program because this body believed that communists and Stalin were responsible for its creation (Warner & Tighe, 2001). After World War II, it was not a surprise that a reference to the Soviet Union resulted in much criticism in the United States. On the other hand, AMA representatives offered their plan of how to make the health care system better. They stated that “there must be no third party intervention, by any nonmedical board or panel or supervisor, between doctor and patient” (Warner & Tighe, 2001, p. 440). Thus, the AMA opposed Truman because it believed that medicine should have been free from government influence.
In conclusion, the case with Truman’s National Health Program demonstrates that even the best initiatives can be rendered hostile. In this case, for example, historical prejudice resulted in criticism of the proposal. Furthermore, the American Medical Association thought that government agencies did not have the right to affect the health care industry. It is fortunate that the organization failed to achieve its goal and that Truman’s proposal resulted in the creation of medical insurance.
References
National Museum of American History. (n.d.). Self-definition and autonomy. Web.
Warner, J. H., & Tighe, J. A. (2001). Major problems in the history of American medicine and public health: documents and essays. Houghton Mifflin.