Mark Twain
I am doing a little thread Necromancy here (old thread bttt)... but I ran across a little tidbit...
Roosevelt was perhaps attacking the many many societies (like the one he was addressing that you listed), that had formed their own health care groups and thus healthcare was about one day’s wage per member. Doctors fought for these group plans like a man bidding on ebay. Thus common folks were able to afford healthcare for basically pennies. This ticked off doctor groups and thus they lobbied for stricter controls of who got doctor degrees and thus broke the society’s ability to get cheap contracts for members. Less doctors, less likely you are gonna get doctors bidding for contracts. Over 25% of the US populace used to belong to paternal societies.
Something to think about...