As of late, I have been reading on the history of Saskatchewan and how Medicare came to be. Many on here think that Medicare is just something that came to Canada, because Canada is just a more socialist country. Canadians are no more progressive than Americans, perhaps it is because we did have a few leaders who were able to communicate with the people and plot out an agenda to get progressive legislation passed. Woodrow Lloyd, the man who took over as Premier of Saskatchewan from Tommy Douglas when Douglas resigned was tasked with getting Medicare passed in the legislature. It is a very interesting piece of history, as well you can see the degree of similarities between the current health care fight.
Woodrow Lloyd addressed the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan,
"My appeal is to what has been termed "the ancient wisdom of your profession." We seek not to change the ends of medicine. We do seek to find ways and means to adapt the financing of medical care to 20th Century society and the legitimate expectations of that society. In this "the ancient mission" need not be lost. Its achievement can be advvanced. I invite you to join in a bold attempt to consolidate past gains and to move toward new horizons in the field of medicare."
The doctors strongly rejected the new plan for Medicare. During the following months Woodrow was harrassed and Keep our Doctors(KOD) groups, essentially astro turf groups, sprung up throughout the province. The KODs were funded by the American Medical Association. Some of these KOD groups resorted to violence, and the Premier recieved harrassing phone calls in the middle of the night at his private residence and the word "Commie" was spray painted on his house.
A video of the protest that took place on the front page of the Legislature can be viewed here.
Video of the protests on Medicare
In the video you see housewives holding effagies of Premiers Douglas and Lloyd. Citizens' Committee for Medical Care was publisizing weekly tabloids and handed out to all residents of Saskatchewan.
"Resind the Act or resign", demanded the KODs . Lloyd would do neither. Nor would he take directions from a group of people who had always opposed him. The KODs thought they offered an honourable way out by pointing out that medicare was devised and profised by Tommy Douglas, not by Lloyd: "Therefore it is in your power to repeal this Act without losing face and start anew. The choice of becoming a statesman or remaining an ambious politician is yours for the asking." In reply, Lloyd assured the KODs that the reponsiblity was entirely his and he would accept no blame on Douglas's behalf.
pg. 224 Premiers of the 20th Century
The response from the Doctors was to go on Strike.
The response from the Doctors was to go on Strike.
At one minute after midnight on July 1, 1962 the vast majority of the province’s doctors went on strike. The College’s emergency service plan was implemented but got off to a rocky start when a Yorkton area baby died of meningitis while his parent drove through the night searching in vain for medical care.
By the end of the second week, several British, American and Canadian doctors had arrived in Saskatchewan and providing medical services withheld by local physicians. As the tension mounted so did the national and international press coverage. Editorial opinion was mixed, the common theme often being a condemnation of both the doctors and government stands.
The Keep our Doctors made a few errors. First, the massive protest that was suppose to happen on the front lawn of the legislature only had 4,000 protesters. 40,000 protesters were expected to show up, as the AMA funded astro turf groups provided buses for transportation from every corner of the province. There was a pro-government demonstration as well on the other side of the lawn, and there were 70 journalist covering the event. The event was considered a failure for the KOD as they didn't get the numbers they had hoped for. As well, some of the propoganda that was written and advertized on radio and television by the KODs was too extreme to be believable. Such propoganda included saying that the stand in doctors from Britain were inferior to the Striking doctors, that beaurocrats would get in the way of your doctor,might commit women with menepausal symptoms to insane asylums. As the strike wore on the striking doctors were losing public sympathy and the businesses that backed KOD were beginning to remove their support in name.
Woodrow Lloyd's next step was to hire a mediator from Britain, Stephen Taylor, a doctor who helped design the British National Health Service. Taylor acted as a go between moving back and forth between the Doctors and the Government.
The only thing the doctors asked for, which had not already been offered by the government, was that private insurance schemes be allowed to continue as channels for payment. It was upon this request that a solution would pivot.
It took several days and enormous reserves of patience, tact and skill on Lord Taylor's part, before an agreement was drafted. Every word, every nuance had to be just right on noon on July 23, govermnet and Medical Association officials came face to face aat the Bessborough Hotel. Regardless of what their inner feelings might have been, the protagonists signed the document with dignity. Lord Tayolor made Premier Llloyd and Dalgliesh promise to wait one week before making any statements about the agreement in order to prevent a flare-up of the old arguments. "This province has been sick", he told the waiting press, "it has had a major operation. I prescribe for it absolute rest." He went on to praise both the doctors and the politicians but the only particular compliment he made was to Lloyd: "He is one of the finest men I have ever known in my life. You should be proud to have such a Premier."
The strike was over but the bitterness lingered on. Only time would mend broken friendships and some would never heal. Within a few years, however, it became difficult to find a doctor in Saskatchewan who did not think of medicare as a benefit.
Page 226; Saskatchewan Premiers of the 20th Century
In 1944 Tommy Douglas passed what you could call the Public Option. That is a public health insurance plan for residents of Saskatchewan. It was considered the first step in plan to one day inact Medicare. Something that Americans are hoping will happen in the US. I wanted to leave you with one last piece of information, the Health Insurance plan made the province of Saskatchewan enough money that it was able to persue medicare. The Hospitalization Insurance plan made a 20% profit in its first year. Tommy Douglas did not bring in social progressive programs if the budget couldn't afford it. When he took power in the 1940's Saskatchewan had the highest debt per person in the country, after the CCF's second term, Saskatchewan had the lowest.
Accross the province, community and church-run hospitals expressed concern over what they regarded as a CCF take over of their facilities. Douglas assured them that the government only intended to pay their bills owing, and that he did not have time "to keep track of every bed-pan in melfort." As it turned out, the hospitals found relief in not having to collect fees from patients. The hospital insurance scheme worked smoothly although there were initial protests about the new hospitalization tax. By 1948, the hospitalization scheme was a point of pride in the CCF election platform.
page 191, Saskatchewan Premiers of the 20th Century