President Nixon
Due to radical change from Johnson's presidency, President Nixon was faced with a society with an overwhelming concern for health insurance and the issue was forced onto the national agenda.
Nixon on Health Care, State of the Union, 1971:
Nixon's plan for health care had a different approach than previous federal plans by minimizing direct government intervention. Nixon's plan would require employers to provide health insurance to employees.
"The central feature of [Nixon’s] program is the proposed National Health Insurance Standards Act, which would require employers to provide their employes with insurance covering up to $50,000 of medical expenses….Essentially the President would merely expand medical-expense protection that many thousands of progressive employers already provide in whole or in part."
-"Mr. Nixon's Health Plan." The New York Times, 1971
While the Watergate Scandal impeded Nixon's efforts and his plan was not completely realized, he did succeed in passing the Social Security Amendment, which extended Medicare coverage to people under 65 with permanent or long-term disabilities.
"It gives me very great pleasure to sign H.R. 1, landmark legislation that will end many old inequities and will provide a new uniform system of well-earned benefits for older Americans, the blind, and the disabled. This bill contains many improvements and expansions of the social security, Medicare, and Medicaid programs which this Administration recommended and is proud to bring into reality today."
-Richard Nixon, Statement on Signing the Social Security Amendments of 1972, October 30, 1972