Health Care History
By
Donna Kirkland
HCS/443
Instructor Donna Lupinacci
October 14, 2013
Healthcare has been a major concern in the economics of the United States of America since the ending of the 19th century and the turn of the 20th century (AMA History Timeline), when the American Medical Association was formed. In 1901 the American Medical Association (AMA) became a powerful national force and reorganize to become the House of Delegates. Surgery become more common especially for removing tumors and infected tonsils during the next 10 years. In 1920 penicillin was discovered however it did not go into elasticity to tackle infection and disease until twenty years later (Healthcare Crisis). As the Great Depression arise in 1930 it changed the priorities from healthcare to rising numbers of unemployment. With the changes to come after the Great Depression the Social Security Act was passed however it omitted health insurance (Healthcare Crisis). In the 1940’s when the AMA opened up an office in Washington D.C, President Harry Truman saw the inelasticity for health care and offered a National Health Program Plan for the macroeconomics of the American society, however this idea was denounced by the AMA, yet came back up to the AMA and the government more than seventy years later (AMA History Timeline). Later that decade during the World War II the microeconomics of the American employer’s between wages and price control. Companies began to offer health care benefits.
In the turn of the century, 1950, the national health care were at a 4.5% of the Gross National Products. Many more medications were made available to help treat a larger range of diseases and with the increase of discovery so did the price of...