WI: American Medicare for All

PeterEzgo

What would the POD have to be for either President Johnson or Nixon to have instituted a universal health care system similar to Medicare but for everyone? Would it have worked?
Thanks in advance!
 

BlackWave

Eh, depends on how much money's poured into this, and how well it starts and how other administrations handle it.
 

Riain

Banned
Of course it would work, Americans aren't poor or stupid, just a bit stubborn on occasion. If it can work in other developed nations and the political will exists in the US then that's all that is needed. I wouldn't expect miracles, but a decent level of basic care is achieveable.
 

MacCaulay

Banned
PeterEzgo said:
What would the POD have to be for either President Johnson or Nixon to have instituted a universal health care system similar to Medicare but for everyone? Would it have worked?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Okay...perhaps if we just remove the "Would it have worked" part.


Let's all just stick to the part that won't get us into a debate: What would the POD have to be for Johnson or Nixon to have instituted a universal health care system similar to Medicare?

Me personally, I think it'd have to be Johnson. Nixon wouldn't have done it. It's just not his style. Johnson's "Great Society," however, would've made a good fit.
 

Faeelin

Banned
MacCaulay said:
Me personally, I think it'd have to be Johnson. Nixon wouldn't have done it. It's just not his style. Johnson's "Great Society," however, would've made a good fit.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure about this. Twas Nixon who pushed for the Clean Air Act, after all.

Indeed, he quoting his 1974 state of the Union Address...

"Turning now to the rest of the agenda for 1974, the time is at hand this year to bring comprehensive, high quality health care within the reach of every American. I shall propose a sweeping new program that will assure comprehensive health insurance protection to millions of Americans who cannot now obtain it or afford it, with vastly improved protection against catastrophic illnesses. This will be a plan that maintains the high standards of quality in America's health care. And it will not require additional taxes."


This led to the 1974 Comprehensive Health Care Act, which was opposed by the AFL-CIO, among others, on the assumption that the next Democratic president would create a more favorable health care system. Oops.

http://books.google.com/books?id=3I...lqGBCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5

(Man, I love Nixon. If he'd been our president for the last 34 years, we'd be living in an Orwellian Dictatorship that was still a utopia of prosperity.)
 

PeterEzgo

Okay, after a little more research into the matter, I am beginning to see the trend that UHC systems do not tend to fail.
However, the questions remains: What is the POD for UHC in the United States?
Okay, that isn't exactly the same question but I think that expanding should give some more depth to the discussion and add more and better ideas.
 

Dan Reilly The Great

Banned
i'm gonna agree with above and say that either eliminating or shortening vietnam would do the job. Perhaps have Kennedy decide that Vietnam is just going to be Bay of Pigs on steroids and decide to pull the plug before things get too ugly. So by the time Johnson gets into office(assuming Kennedy still gets capped in Houston) all he has to do is oversee the wrapping up of US involvement in Vietnam so that it doesn't kill his domestice initiatives like in OTL.
 
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