BOSTON - With the ranks of the uninsured rising, the president appointed Rashi Fein to a panel working on a national health care program. The effort failed, beaten by Congress and the medical lobby.
Sound familiar? The president wasn't Bill Clinton. It was Harry Truman.
Fein, now a Harvard professor emeritus, has witnessed 50 years of unsuccessful attempts, nationally and in his home state, to provide all citizens with health coverage.
On Nov. 7, Massachusetts voters decide whether to try again.
Question 5 on the ballot proposes the creation of a council to draft legislation for statewide health care by 2002.
In 1988, state lawmakers approved a universal health plan backed by then-Gov. Michael Dukakis, a Democrat. But a key element - businesses had to insure employees or pay into a state insurance pool - never took effect and was repealed in 1996. Recession had hit the state by then and Republican William Weld was governor.
On the national front, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has pushed universal health care for decades. Hillary Rodham Clinton also tried. Her failure proved a major setback for her husband during his first term.
About 42.6 million Americans, or 15.5 percent of the population, lacked insurance in 1999, down slightly from 44.2 million, or 16.3 percent, in 1998, according to the Census Bureau. It was the first decline since the agency began tracking the uninsured in 1987.
In Massachusetts, 10.5 percent of residents were uninsured in 1999, up from 10.3 percent the year before but still much improved from the 12.4 percent uninsured in 1996.
Question 5 is backed by consumer groups. They reported raising less than $100,000, mostly from individuals, including doctors.
The No on 5 Coalition, mainly health insurance companies, reported raising more than $1.1 million. Their biggest objection is the measure's failure to address how to finance the system it would create.
''The 'yes' side has taken some popular concepts and turned it into a nightmare of administration and spending,'' said Larry Rasky of the No on 5 Coalition.
No polls on the issue have been released.
Fein, 74, still wants to see universal health care but doubts enough Massachusetts voters do.
''When I was young, I had the dream that I'd be there for the signing, and the president would hand me one of those pens,'' Fein said. ''I no longer have that ambition. Maybe in my children's lifetime.''
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On the Net:
Census Bureau health insurance statistics: http://www.census.gov/hhes/hlthins/historic/index.html
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