Kennedy's greatest regret: almost striking a deal with Nixon on universal healthcare in 1974
The healthcare reform plan Nixon proposed at his lowest point during Watergate was more radical than Obamacare later, but Kennedy surrendered to pressure from allies and abandoned negotiations, calling it his greatest political regret.
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Son's cancer treatment convinced Kennedy to champion universal healthcare
Kennedy's son Ted Jr. was diagnosed with bone cancer at age 12 requiring amputation. Early chemotherapy was free through clinical trials, but after the trial ended, each treatment cost $2,700 with no insurance coverage—except Kennedy himself enjoyed government insurance as a congressman. In hospital corridors, he encountered families who had mortgaged homes or faced bankruptcy unable to pay treatment costs. This experience made him embrace universal healthcare as ‘the cause of his life’.
— Ted Kennedy / narrationNixon proposed healthcare reform to deflect from Watergate
At the 1974 State of the Union address, Nixon, mired in Watergate, pivoted the conversation to healthcare, proposing a plan requiring all employers to either provide insurance or pay penalties—radical for a Republican president by today's standards. The episode notes this was not Nixon's ideological shift but a ‘president desperate to change the subject’, creating unequal motivations for the subsequent negotiations.
— narrationKennedy saw Nixon's plan as insufficient compromise
When Nixon spoke, cameras caught Kennedy sitting unmoved—because just a year earlier, he had proposed a European-style government-led single-payer system akin to Medicare for all. Nixon's plan, in Kennedy's view, merely compromised with private insurance companies rather than constituting genuine reform.
— narrationKennedy stunned observers by offering to work with Nixon
In April 1974, Kennedy joined the House Ways and Means Committee chairman in publicly announcing willingness to work with the Nixon administration on legislation, with media interpreting it as universal healthcare ‘a done deal’. But the decision simultaneously angered Nixon's cabinet (accusing him of ‘socialism’) and liberal allies like unions (seeing it as extending the dying Nixon's political life).
— narrationUnion leaders called Kennedy a traitor to labor
Labor leaders believed Democrats would dominate the midterm elections and control both chambers, so shouldn't bargain with the departing Nixon. During negotiations, a top labor lobbyist called Kennedy a ‘traitor to labor’ to his face. Kennedy stood up, opened the door, and said ‘Then I guess you'll just have to call me a traitor’—demonstrating his determination to push forward despite pressure from allies.
— narration / Ted KennedyStaff negotiated in secret church basement for months
Because of political sensitivity, Nixon and Kennedy's healthcare staff met secretly in a room called ‘the pub’ in the basement of St. Mark's Episcopal Church starting in June 1974, as carefully as ‘sending an envoy to the Soviet Union’, trying to find balance between government control and free competition. Negotiations continued through July.
— Stuart Altman / narrationNegotiations continued even as Watergate hearings intensified
Even as impeachment hearings unfolded in the House and White House tapes were turned over to prosecutors, church basement negotiations continued discussing technical details like payroll taxes and insurance rules, because participants still saw this ‘historic window’ as open. On July 8, 1974—just one month before Nixon resigned—his health secretary still told Kennedy ‘reaching agreement is possible’.
— Stuart AltmanKennedy quietly walked away from the historic opportunity
After assessing how much he had compromised and how strongly allies had backlashed, Kennedy told his staff ‘They're prepared to crucify me’, then arranged no further meetings or calls. The negotiations simply faded away. A month later Nixon resigned and the healthcare plan disappeared entirely, ‘just like that’.
— Ted Kennedy / narrationKennedy called it the greatest regret of his career
Years later, Kennedy repeatedly told staff and associates ‘We should have done this’ and ‘I thought we could pull it off’, calling it the greatest regret of his political career. The episode notes that he couldn't have foreseen how public trust in government would continue eroding after Watergate; in the 30 years afterward, he never came close to such a comprehensive healthcare proposal again.
— Ted Kennedy / Barbara SouliotisIn their own words · checked verbatim
While it's an experiment, it's paid for by the company.
Ted Kennedy6:18
And it's $2,700 a treatment. That's what it cost. None of the insurance would cover it except mine.
Ted Kennedy6:18
The issue before the American people isn't, can we afford national health insurance? Is, can we afford not to have it?
Ted Kennedy8:21
you are, quote, a traitor to labor for even entertaining a deal with Nixon.
well, you're just going to have to call me a traitor.
Ted Kennedy19:46
You're never going to see anything more liberal than this. This is the best health insurance plan you're ever going to get.
Stuart Altman22:02
they're ready to crucify me out there.
Ted Kennedy23:06
To every cause, there is a moment.
Ted Kennedy25:15
Figures
| Cost per chemotherapy treatment | $2,700 | 6:18 |
| Long-term survival rate with experimental therapy | 90% (previously ~20%) | 6:18 |
Glossary
- Medicare for all
- Universal healthcare funded by a single government payer
- single-payer
- Healthcare system where a single government entity pays all medical bills for the entire population
How to listen
People interested in the history of US healthcare policy, curious about Obamacare's origins, or fascinated by political deal-making and historical missed opportunities.
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