Evolution of federal involvement in American healthcare since the Industrial Revolution

American Healthcare and the Federal Government

American Healthcare and the American Government

In generations gone by, medical treatment in America was little else than a local doctor, whose house calls generally were the bulk of the care that people received. Small, regional hospitals existed to take care of surgeries and major medical issues, but in both cases, the options for treatment were limited, and in many cases, patients did not far well. Luckily, as technology has advanced, so to has the American medical system to the point where many consider the American medical system to be among the best in the world. This progress has come with a heavy financial burden, however, turning American medicine into an industry, and like most industries, the federal government has taken up a role. In this research, the federal healthcare agenda will be discussed and explored from several points-of-view in an effort to better understand the many facets of the topic.

Healthcare Becomes Part of the Federal Agenda

Introducing this paper, the assertion was made that American healthcare has become an industry and part of the federal agenda. Better understanding of how this came about requires an explanation of the evolution of the American healthcare "industry," and to look at that requires a glimpse into post Civil-War America, of the late 1860s. In that period, two very important events took place-one in America itself and another in Europe- which set the pace for the birth of the American healthcare industry. Domestically, America entered into a period of economic and commercial advancement that would in retrospect become known as the Industrial Revolution, attracting millions of people from rural areas to urban areas in search of work, which led to the demand for organized healthcare in the cities where industrial accidents and the disease associated with large numbers of people living in cramped areas became commonplace. In Europe, scientific discoveries into the nature of germs helped to develop more medicines which could be offered to the sick- at a price, of course. While during this time, many of the industrialized nations of the world went to a system of nationalized healthcare, America instead embraced the capitalistic model of doctors and hospitals providing care to individuals for fees. At that point, the years immediately before World War I, we see the advent of private healthcare insurance in America- first being purchased by the wealthy, and then offered in many cases as a worker benefit, especially in union workshops. From this point, healthcare seems to have become more of a public issue, and as such, many efforts began in the halls of the federal government to address it.

Successful and Potentially Successful Alternatives/Who Developed the Alternatives?

Upon the conclusion of World War II, the U.S. was literally on top of the world, flush with victory and immersed in the belief that anything was possible with a little American know-how. Due to the collapse of many of the economies of European countries, the American dollar enjoyed dominance, giving the U.S. The clout to go in almost any direction that it saw fit. The men and women returning home from battle many times had health issues that required care on a level that had not been seen since the Civil War. Therefore, an effort was being made to pump federal dollars into the construction of hospitals and medical centers in urban and even suburban areas to meet Americans' needs for healthcare. Even with all of this federal intervention, however, the issue of Americans being able to afford healthcare would rear its ugly head time and time again in the succeeding decades. This issue would be tossed about like a political hot potato until the election of President Bill Clinton, when then First Lady Hillary Clinton embraced the issue of affordable healthcare for all Americans and made an attempt to institute a nationalized healthcare system, much like the ones that have worked in nations like Canada and Great Britain. The Clintons unfortunately met with intense resistance to the plan on the federal level, and their system never came to full fruition. Ironically, however, the Clintons did manage to make meaningful change in American healthcare through their proposed plan. The mere threat of federal control over the monopolies that many American healthcare companies enjoy led in many cases to the freezing of rates and improvement of services and allowable care on the part of these private companies, so much so that in the present day, America offers some of the best healthcare in the world.

Concessions in Developing the Alternatives

Beyond the advances that the Clinton years of the federal government made in healthcare, it is also important to point out that seeking a consensus on the healthcare issue led to a restoration of many of the divisions that existed in the Democratic Party prior to the call to duty to help on healthcare concerns. The ripple effect of this can also be seen in the reforms of recent years in Medicare coverage, enriching the lives of the countless baby-boomers, whose need for medical care will only increase in the coming years.

Conclusion

As we have seen in the course of this research, American healthcare has in some respects been the barometer of social and economic change in the nation. What the future holds in this arena is anyone's guess, but one thing is clear- the federal government will always have something valuable to contribute to the cause, and should not let political agendas or power grabs jeopardize it.