Health-Care Reform in the United States of America

Abstract

This contribution reviews the history of the evolution of health care in the United States of America from the founding of the nation in the Colonial Era of the nation (1600–1750) to the current time. The contributions, political, sociological, and legal, to the evolution of a national health scheme in the last century are presented in detail and center around the developments in health care for the nation examined via key presidencies. The developments of current times, particularly the evolution of “Obama Care,” formalized by congressional passage of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 and after a long and bitter political and public battle, preserved by the United States Supreme Court in 2012, are explicated in detail. With the passage and preservation of the Affordable Care Act, it is likely that the United States of America has, after a long and often turbulent history, placed a stable, national plan for reasonable access for its citizens upon a solid foundation.