Harry S. Truman versus the Medical Lobby: The Genesis of Medicare

“I have some bitter disappointments as President,” reflected Harry Truman after leaving office, “but the one that has troubled me the most , in a personal way, has been the failure to defeat organized opposition to a national compulsory health-insurance program.”

Harry S. Truman versus the Medical Lobby is a study of one aspect of Harry Truman’s domestic leadership and the political conflict it produced. In the book, author Monte Poen examines Truman’s quest for national health insurance in the light of the ongoing debate on the subject in this century. It reveals why Truman was the first president to advocate government-financed health care and why he repeatedly took the idea to Congress, despite insurmountable political obstacles.