Jimmy Carter blames Kennedy for blocking healthcare reform

Former President Jimmy Carter lashed out at the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), whom he blamed for the lack of comprehensive healthcare in the U.S.

Carter lashed out at Kennedy, who passed away in August of 2009, for the 1979 clash between the two over the national healthcare plan Carter had proposed.

"The fact is that we would have had comprehensive healthcare now had it not been for Ted Kennedy’s deliberately blocking the legislation that I proposed,” Carter said in an interview to air Sunday on "60 Minutes" on CBS. “It was his fault. Ted Kennedy killed the bill."

Carter and Kennedy famously clashed during the one term the Georgian had in the White House. Kennedy ran a primary campaign against Carter in 1980, but fell short. Carter went on to lose the 1980 general election to Republican Ronald Reagan.

The jab at Kennedy comes almost six months after a healthcare reform fight in Congress in which Kennedy's legacy was frequently invoked. Kennedy wrote that healthcare reform was the "cause of [his] life," and, after his death, there were some suggestions that the ultimately successful bill be renamed for Kennedy.

The 1979 fight centered around the implementation of a public insurance plan. Kennedy, according to an account by Time magazine, favored a government insurance program that would have been implemented quickly, while Carter favored a similar plan that would have been phased in.

Carter hinted that the contentious relationship led to Kennedy's decision to primary him in 1980.

“He did not want to see me have a major success in that realm of life,” Carter said.