Doctors opposed Medicare
I respectfully correct the opinion of Dr. Cameron Schaeffer concerning physician support of Medicare in 1965-66. The Fayette County Medical Society, the Kentucky Medical Association and the American Medical Association all opposed the Medicare law then and lobbied for a year against it.
It was forced through by President Lyndon Johnson as part of his Great Society. I was an officer in the Fayette medical society, and many of us worked hard opposing it. The argument against it was that government control would destroy medicine, with some saying that in 50 years, it would be totally controlled by the government.
Dr. Gordon L. Hyde
Naples, Fla.
This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 8:49 PM with the headline "Doctors opposed Medicare."