In 1962, the first attempt to pass Medicare failed when Florida surgeon Dr. Edward Annis addressed the nation. He as met with President Kennedy who, many say inspired by Annis, gave the worst speech of his Presidency on the matter at Madison Square Garden (on purpose). A Few days later, Dr. Annis addressed the empty venue…
“This Bill (King Anderson Bill) would put the government smack into your hospitals! Defining services, setting standards, establishing committees, calling for reports, deciding who gets in and who gets out-what they get and what they don’t-even getting into the teaching of medicine-and all the time imposing a federally administered financial budget on our houses of mercy and healing. It will create an unpredictable burden on every working taxpayer. It will undercut and destroy the wholesome growth of private voluntary insurance and prepayment health plans for the aged which offer flexible benefits in the full range of individual needs. It will lower the quality and availability of hospital services throughout our country. It will stand between patients and their doctors. And it will serve as the forerunner of a different system of medicine for all Americans.” Dr. Edward Annis, Madison Square Garden,1962.
