1971 HOUSE HEARING ON NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE

Photo: Representative Wilbur Mills (D-AR), Chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means.

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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