Question

What was Jimmy carter achievement in his term related to healthcare reform

Answer 1

Jimmy Carter on Health Care
President of the U.S., 1977-1981
1977: Incremental approach instead of universal coverage
We negotiated long and hard in 1977 to compromise on a single-payer system and agree instead to support a plan built on our existing system of private insurance provided that coverage was mandatory and universal.
In November 1977, Carter made it clear that he had no intention to hammer out a legislative proposal. The moment called for bold leadership and swift action built around a single piece of legislation. We continued to work toward that end. And Carter continued to slow down the process. By the summer of 1978, I felt that the president was squandering a real opportunity to get something done. The Jimmy Carter who had declared that he wanted mandatory and universal coverage and had a plan that was nearly identical to mine had now been replaced by the President Carter who wanted to approach health insurance in incremental steps, over time, if certain cost containment benchmarks were met--and after the 1978 midterm elections.
In his first address to Congress after succeeding Nixon, President Gerald Ford urged lawmakers to approve a national health insurance bill, but President Ford's short tenure was dominated by high inflation and other economic woes.
Jimmy Carter also focused on inflation when he became president in 1977. Even though he had supported universal coverage during his campaign, President Carter decided that his first foray into health care would be an attempt to rein in costs, not expand coverage. In the previous decade, the consumer price index had increased by 79.7%, while hospital costs had risen 237%. President Carter proposed an across-the-board cap on hospital charges that would limit annual increases to 1.5 times any rise in the consumer price index.
Carter was not successful in gaining support for his national health-insurance bill or his proposals for welfare reform and controls on hospital costs. He was unsuccessful also in gaining congressional approval of plans to consolidate natural- resource agencies within the Department of the Interior and expanded economic development units in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Also, his tax-reform proposals were not favorably received by Congress.
On national health insurance, we have an abominable system in this country for the delivery of health care, with gross inequities toward the poor-particularly the working poor-and profiteering by many hospitals of the ill.
The buffer between expensive medical care and patients' ability to pay at the time of illness is provided by insurers. Many people have no hesitation about unnecessarily entering a hospital, receiving expensive diagnoses while they are there, staying an extra day or two, and accepting the most elaborate service and treatment. Some even see it as a way to get back their investment in the insurance premiums.

At that point, both doctors and hospital owners benefit, while the patient is an unwitting contributor to higher medical costs and inequitable distribution of medical care. From the enormous profits, unnecessary hospital facilities can be built. Normal competitive restraints on excessive costs are almost nonexistent.