ABSTRACT
Private health insurance schemes for the working population grew to fill the vacuum caused by the failure to implement public insurance or to offer a viable alternative. The public assistance approach, supported by Senator Robert Taft and others, regarded the need for government-sponsored health care as an aberrant necessity rather than being in any sense generally desirable and saw eligibility and benefits in terms of discretionary actions rather than clear-cut rights. By 1960, medical vendor payments under all public-assistance programs had reached a total of $514 million, well over half of which was for hospital and nursing-home care. In Missouri recipients of old-age assistance were entitled to hospital care only for medical emergencies or acute serious illness, and care was limited to 14 days per admission. Public hospitals and clinics, where they existed, could be expanded as the basis for a separate program for health services to the medically indigent as well as those on cash assistance.
