Peterson, Hayley B.2019-10-112019-10-112019-05-13https://hdl.handle.net/11299/208532Professional paper for the fulfillment of the Master of Public Policy degreeThe health care debate in the United States is nearly as old as the country itself. Opening hospitals to treat seamen after the Revolutionary War is a far cry from passing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), yet the debate has changed only in the specific legislative language of any given bill. From social welfare debates in the 19th Century, to the New Deal, to the establishment of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, to the ACA, who will be covered and who will pay for it are questions state legislators and members of Congress have attempted to answer throughout generations. The current health care debate is no different. With each major reform, health care, for better or worse, changes incrementally. Small changes are made to an existing system, often solving one problem while creating another. Presidents and lawmakers have tried to make sweeping changes—create a whole new health care system—to no avail. Presidents Truman in 1947, Clinton in 1993, and Obama in 2010 each attempted to create a universal health care system, a government-run system to ensure that everyone who needed care was able to get it. Congress thought otherwise, and instead of universal coverage, watered-down versions of Truman’s and Obama’s plans passed. Clinton’s plan did not make it to the President’s desk.enIf It’s Not One Thing, It’s the Same Thing: Political Barriers to Health Care Reform in the United States and the Viability of Establishing a Single-Payer Health Care SystemThesis or Dissertation