<P> During this time, individual hospitals began offering their own insurance programs, the first of which became Blue Cross . Groups of hospitals as well as physician groups (i.e. Blue Shield) soon began selling group health insurance policies to employers, who then offered them to their employees and collected premiums . In the 1940s Congress passed legislation that supported the new third - party insurers . During World War II, Henry Kaiser used an arrangement in which doctors bypassed traditional fee - for - care and were contracted to meet all the medical needs for his employees on construction projects up and down the West coast . After the war ended, he opened the plan up to the public as a non-profit organization under the name Kaiser Permanente . </P> <P> During World War 2, the federal government introduced wages and price controls . In an effort to continue attracting and retaining employees without violating those controls, employers offered and sponsored health insurance to employees in lieu of gross pay . This was a beginning of the third - party paying system that began to replace direct out - of - pocket payments . </P> <P> Following the world war, President Harry Truman called for universal health care as a part of his Fair Deal in 1949 but strong opposition stopped that part of the Fair Deal . However, in 1946 the National Mental Health Act was passed, as was the Hospital Survey and Construction Act, or Hill - Burton Act . In 1951 the IRS declared group premiums paid by employers as a tax - deductible business expense, which solidified the third - party insurance companies' place as primary providers of access to health care in the United States . </P> <P> In the Civil Rights era of the 1960s and early 1970s, public opinion shifted towards the problem of the uninsured, especially the elderly . Since care for the elderly would someday affect everyone, supporters of health care reform were able to avoid the worst fears of "socialized medicine," which was considered a dirty word for its association with communism . After Lyndon B. Johnson was elected president in 1964, the stage was set for the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 . Johnson's plan was not without opposition, however . "Opponents, especially the AMA and insurance companies, opposed the Johnson administration's proposal on the grounds that it was compulsory, it represented socialized medicine, it would reduce the quality of care, and it was' un-American ."' These views notwithstanding, the Medicare program was established by legislation signed into law on July 30, 1965, by President Lyndon B. Johnson . Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are either age 65 and over, or who meet other special criteria . </P>

Who was the first u.s. president to propose a national health insurance plan