Following the 1970 election, Democrats retained control of both the House and the Senate, increasing their majority in the House, while Richard Nixon was re-elected president. National health reform was a priority issue at the outset of the 92nd Congress in 1971: Senator Ted Kennedy introduced the Health Security Act (S. 3), a national single-payer bill, on the first day of Congress, while Senator Jacob Javits introduced a competing single-payer bill: the National Health Insurance and Health Improvements Act (S. 836). Half a dozen other national health reform efforts were also proposed.
In October and November 1971, the House Committee on Ways and Means held extensive public hearings on "National Health Insurance Proposals" - we include the full records of these hearings below.
These followed the nationally prominent hearings on the "Health Care Crisis in America" held by the Senate Subcommittee on Health, chaired by Senator Kennedy, which hosted 23 days of testimony in locations across the country. The Senate Committee on Finance also held public hearings on "National Health Insurance" in April 1971.
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Index of Public Hearings
- National Health Insurance Proposals Hearings Part 1: October 19 and 20, 1971
- National Health Insurance Proposals Hearings Part 2: October 26 and 27, 1971
- National Health Insurance Proposals Hearings Part 3: October 28, 1971
- National Health Insurance Proposals Hearings Part 4: October 29, 1971
- National Health Insurance Proposals Hearings Part 5: November 1, 1971
- National Health Insurance Proposals Hearings Part 6: November 2, 1971
- National Health Insurance Proposals Hearings Part 7: November 3 and 4, 1971
- National Health Insurance Proposals Hearings Part 8: November 5, 8 and 9, 1971
- National Health Insurance Proposals Hearings Part 9: November 10, 1971
- National Health Insurance Proposals Hearings Part 10: November 11 and 12, 1971
- National Health Insurance Proposals Hearings Part 11: November 15 and 16, 1971
- National Health Insurance Proposals Hearings Part 12: November 17 and 18, 1971
- National Health Insurance Proposals Hearings Part 13: November 19, 1971