For more than 50 years, the company has regularly tracked, reported, explained and analyzed health and entitlement law for health care providers, insurers, attorneys and consumers. Harry Truman sends a message to Congress asking for legislation establishing a national health insurance plan. By the end of Truman's administration he had backed off from a plan for universal coverage, but administrators in the Social Security system and others had begun to focus on the idea of a program aimed at insuring Social Security beneficiaries. Ex-president Truman is the first to enroll in Medicare. Disabled persons under age 65 and those with end-stage renal disease become eligible for coverage.
Services expand to include some chiropractic services, speech therapy and physical therapy.
Payments to HMOs are authorized. SSI recipients are automatically eligible for Medicaid. Most federal civilian employees become covered. Remaining federal employees, including President, members of Congress and federal judiciary, become covered. Coverage is added for routine mammography.