Obamacare fight vs. birth of Social Security: Which was uglier?
I was wondering how the public felt and what politicians were saying back when SS was introduced. I googled and found this excellent assessment of the situations surrounding Social Security and Medicare implementation and how it compares to ACA. It would appear to me that the same arguments then are what they are saying now.
When Medicare was introduced, even Ronald Reagan got involved prior to his presidency by making a recording "in which he painted a dark picture of a time in which doctors would be told by the government which patients they could see, and where."
EXERPT:
Experts say Social Security, in the 1930s, and Medicare, in the 1960s, were established at times when the partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats was not nearly as strong as it is today.
In addition, during both periods the Democrats pushing for the programs had a much stronger grip on political power.
“There were some people very strongly opposed to Medicare (and) very strongly opposed to Social Security, but politically they did not have the clout that those opposed to Obamacare, or ACA, have today,” said Daniel Beland, a professor of public policy at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, and an expert on the U.S. Social Security and Medicare systems.
Still, the fears about Social Security and Medicare are surprisingly similar to the ones critics have raised about the Affordable Care Act today.
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You may enjoy reading the entire article. NBC News, 1 Oct 2013, by Allison Linn
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