Nathmal Health Insurance (NHI)
Recently, there has been renewed interest in national health insurance as a solution to our health care crisis. President C.arter and the strongly Democratic 95th Congress have pledged that passage of NHI legislation wtll be a top priority for this administratton. The American College of NurseMidwives has not yet formulated a position on this important question. We have only said that nurre-midwives should be included in any national health insurance bill. The many different national health inslnance proposals represent widely divergent approaches to health care delivery. The concepts and priorities un ierlying any ultimate legislation wtl profoundly affect the health and we&sing of our entre nation. ks an important group of health care providers, with voke and influence well in excess of our numbers, nurse-midwives must study, discuss, and understand the complex issues involved in the NH1 proposals. Cnly then can we unite on an informed bask, and support a poskon which will bring abcut the most progressive changes in our country’s health care.
around since at least 1912, when an VHI plank was part of Teddy Roosevelt’s presidential campaign. The :oncept has been repeatedly raised, and always iorces on
the
defeated health
by powerful and politica!
scenes: notably by organized medicine, organized hospitals, and the insurance tndustry. At least i0 NHI proposals reached Congress between 1939-1950. In response, the Amerkan Medical Association be9an a $5,OOO,OOD advertistng campaign to defeat NH1 in 1949. By equating NH1 with communism and building on the McCarthy hysteria of the period, they kept NHI a dead issue through the 1950’s. The 1950’s also saw the growth of a giant, private US health insurance industry. These companies would usually not insure the tndlgent or the aged. Thus, in 1960, a new MHi drive began, concentrating on the poor and the elderly. This culminated in the passage of Medicare and Medtcaid in 1965. The 1970’s have seen at least 20 NHI bills submitted to Congress, rep resenting every major interest
Recently, there has been renewed interest in national health insurance as a solution to our health care crisis. President C.arter and the strongly Democratic 95th Congress have pledged that passage of NHI legislation wtll be a top priority for this administratton. The American College of NurseMidwives has not yet formulated a position on this important question. We have only said that nurre-midwives should be included in any national health insurance bill. The many different national health inslnance proposals represent widely divergent approaches to health care delivery. The concepts and priorities un ierlying any ultimate legislation wtl profoundly affect the health and we&sing of our entre nation. ks an important group of health care providers, with voke and influence well in excess of our numbers, nurse-midwives must study, discuss, and understand the complex issues involved in the NH1 proposals. Cnly then can we unite on an informed bask, and support a poskon which will bring abcut the most progressive changes in our country’s health care.
around since at least 1912, when an VHI plank was part of Teddy Roosevelt’s presidential campaign. The :oncept has been repeatedly raised, and always iorces on
the
defeated health
by powerful and politica!
scenes: notably by organized medicine, organized hospitals, and the insurance tndustry. At least i0 NHI proposals reached Congress between 1939-1950. In response, the Amerkan Medical Association be9an a $5,OOO,OOD advertistng campaign to defeat NH1 in 1949. By equating NH1 with communism and building on the McCarthy hysteria of the period, they kept NHI a dead issue through the 1950’s. The 1950’s also saw the growth of a giant, private US health insurance industry. These companies would usually not insure the tndlgent or the aged. Thus, in 1960, a new MHi drive began, concentrating on the poor and the elderly. This culminated in the passage of Medicare and Medtcaid in 1965. The 1970’s have seen at least 20 NHI bills submitted to Congress, rep resenting every major interest
