While doing a little historical research, I came across this article in an old Record:
Health Insurance Opinions Given
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A medical program operated from the federal level can never provide the best care for the people, in the opinion of Dr. Wilton Halverson, state director of public health.
Addressing the house of delegates of the State Medical Association yesterday, Dr. Halverson added:
“The leaders of the profession must do their best to develop a program to meet the social needs of the people but they must not be tied down with governmental red tape.”
Regarding a state law for medical insurance proposed by Gov. Earl Warren, Albee Slade, representing the state CIO organization, told the doctors: “Gov. Warren has found that health insurance is politically and socially the order of the day.”
Eugene Body, an AFL representative, told the physicians that if they wish to preserve personal initiative in medical practice they should get out and fight for it. “If the medical profession does not step in, it certainly will be regimented – make no mistake about that,” said Body. He said that no matter how compulsory health insurance is presented, or by what name, “it is still socialized medicine.”
This article was published on Page 9 of the Jan. 6, 1945, Stockton Record.
