The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act is a landmark event in a national conversation that's been going on in our country for most of the last century.
Back in March of 1961, Edward T. Chase wrote an article for The Progressive commemorating a cultural shift—a shift towards accepting health care as a basic human right.
His headline was "Medical Care Becomes a Right."
In his story, Chase wrote on the opposition facing social security—a powerful lobby called the American Medical Association that Harry Truman characterized as “Just another mean trust.” He wrote about a slow, painstaking shift towards bipartisan support of the idea that elderly Americans deserve support. But most of all, he wrote about progress.
“A long stride was taken in establishing the acceptance of what can best be described as a new basic social right. And this is, or certainly should be, news—important news. It is the concept that medical care now is a right, like the classic triad of food, clothing, and shelter—plus, in modern times, a free education.”