<P> One of the earliest health care proposals at the federal level was the 1854 Bill for the Benefit of the Indigent Insane , which would have established asylums for the indigent insane , as well as the blind and deaf , via federal land grants to the states . This bill was proposed by activist Dorothea Dix and passed both houses of Congress , but was vetoed by president Franklin Pierce . Pierce argued that the federal government should not commit itself to social welfare , which he stated was the responsibility of the states . </P>
<P> One of the earliest health care proposals at the federal level was the 1854 Bill for the Benefit of the Indigent Insane , which would have established asylums for the indigent insane , as well as the blind and deaf , via federal land grants to the states . This bill was proposed by activist Dorothea Dix and passed both houses of Congress , but was vetoed by president Franklin Pierce . Pierce argued that the federal government should not commit itself to social welfare , which he stated was the responsibility of the states . </P>
when did health care reform began in the united states
when did health care reform began in the united states
1854
1854