The debate that never ends: Washington’s constant health care fight

By STEVEN SLOAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The president was barely a year into his administration when a health care debate began to consume Washington.

On Capitol Hill, partisan divides formed as many Democrats pressed for guaranteed insurance coverage for a broader swath of Americans while Republicans, buttressed by medical industry lobbying, warned about cost and a slide into communism.

The year was 1945, and the new Democratic president, Harry Truman, tried and failed to persuade Congress to enact a comprehensive national health care program, a defeat Truman described as the disappointment of his presidency that “troubled me the most.” Since then, 13 presidents have struggled with the same basic questions about the government’s role in health care, where spending now makes up nearly 18% of the U.S. economy.

The fraught politics of health care are on display again this month as millions of people face a steep rise in costs after the Republican-controlled Congress let Affordable Care Act subsidies expire.

While the subsidies are a narrow, if costly, slice of the issue, they’ve reopened long-festering grievances in Washington over the way health care is managed and the legacy of the ACA, the signature legislative achievement of President Read Entire Article