The US healthcare system relies on a heavily subsidised and lightly regulated private sector, and despite living in the world’s wealthiest country, millions of Americans remain uninsured, underinsured, or unsure of their coverage. This column examines the rise of private health insurance after WWII, when the American Medical Association – an interest group representing physicians – financed a nationwide campaign against National Health Insurance. Directed by the country’s first political public relations firm, the campaign used mass advertising to associate NHI with socialism and private insurance with the ‘American Way’.