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Dorothea Dix lobbied Congress to pass legislation supporting building asylums' for the mentally insane, blind, deaf, and poor. It passed both houses of congress but was vetoed by President Franklin Pierce. -
After the Civil War the federal government established the Freedman's Bureau which among other responsibilities including building hospitals and treating former slaves. -
After several failed attempts from democratic presidents to establish a universal health care system, President Lyndon Johnson created the Medicare and Medicaid programs, granting health care to people over 65 and poor people respectably.
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In 2010 President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which enacted a number of health care reforms including an expansion of Medicaid, protections for pre-existing conditions, allowing kids to stay on parents health insurance until they are 26, and others.
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In 2017 Republicans in the senate proposed the American Health Care Act which attempted to repeal portions of the Affordable Care Act.
