The first week, it was featured on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, last week, the cover of Time magazine. It was just released this month, and is already receiving attention everywhere. His new book entitled, America's Bitter Pill, right here, Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System. Tonight, we're honored to have a journalist, an award-winning author and an entrepreneur, all in one person, who has contributed mightily to our national debate on this topic, Steven Brill. Both monumental achievements that affect every American and continues to inspire passionate discussion and debate about both our government and our healthcare industry. And it was the kind of argument which was successfully defeated on many occasions during the administration of Franklin Roosevelt.ĪMY MacDONALD: So, here we are 50 years later, with Medicare having been passed by President Johnson and the Affordable Care Act having been past by President Obama. But to say, "I'm against this because in a future date somebody else may do something" doesn't seem to me to be a rational argument. I believe it has a good chance this year, if not in the future, and it's in the economic as well as the social interests of the people of our country. It is developed for a special purpose, and in my judgment it's going to be adopted. The fact of the matter is, this is a useful program. It was the argument used against the minimum wage the argument used against any agricultural program. That was the argument that was used against the Social Security Act in the '30s. PRESIDENT KENNEDY: Well, it's an old argument, when a case is lost, to argue that "it's all right here, but what is it going to mean for the future." Under that argument, there wouldn't have been any progress on any social legislation in this country. President, the critics of your medical care plan have charged that this will be the opening wedge for socialized medicine in the country. And we thought you'd enjoy hearing his response. We have a brief video clip of his being asked this very question at a press conference. Well, despite his compelling words and efforts to introduce healthcare for America's senior citizens, President Kennedy's proposed legislation foundered amidst charges that it was an attempt to socialize medicine and a threat to individual liberty. Because what we're now talking about in our children's day will seem to be the ordinary business of government." This effort culminated in a nationally televised presidential address from Madison Square Garden, where President Kennedy said, and I quote: "I refuse to see this country shrink from these struggles, which are our responsibility. Tonight, we're going to be hearing from two distinguished American journalists about healthcare, an issue that President Kennedy was deeply involved with in the spring of 1962, when he launched an effort to provide healthcare for the elderly, and put into motion the creation of what we now know as Medicare. I see Charlie Kravetz here tonight thank you very much for joining us. And this is thanks to generous support from our lead sponsor Bank of America the Boston Foundation, the Lowell Institute, Raytheon, Viacom and our media partners, the Boston Globe, Xfinity and WBUR.
OBAMACARE SUCCESS STORY FREE
The JFK Library Forums are free and open to the public, both in this room and on the Kennedy Library website, as they are now all being livestreamed. So we hope you'll come back to be reintroduced to this extraordinary Museum when we reopen at the end of March. And we'll be enhancing all of the film footage that we show in the Museums so visitors will get to experience President Kennedy and his iconic words, his most famous speeches and debates in a more powerful and engaging way. Kennedy Presidential Library and MuseumĪMY MacDONALD: We're updating our Museum with new technologies that will improve our sound systems, including new interactive displays, which we've not had before.
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