Operation Coffee Cup
Operation Coffee Cup was a campaign conducted by the American Medical Association (AMA) Women's Auxiliary in early 1961<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> in opposition to the Democrats' plans to extend Social Security to include health insurance for the elderly, later known as Medicare. As part of the plan, doctors' wives organized coffee meetings to try to convince acquaintances to write letters to Congress opposing the program.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The operation received support from Ronald Reagan, who in 1961 produced the LP record Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine for the AMA, outlining arguments against what he called socialized medicine.<ref name=":0" /> This record would be played at the coffee meetings.
BackgroundEdit
The AMA had long opposed any government-run or subsidized provision of health care.
As John F. Kennedy took the presidency, one of his priorities was reforming the American healthcare system. He sent a health care bill to Congress, HR 4222, known as the King-Anderson legislation after its sponsors (Senator Clinton Anderson of New Mexico, and Rep. Cecil King of California).<ref>"Social Security History", SocialSecurity.gov, Retrieved on 27 October 2014.</ref><ref>"TexasBestGrok: Operation Coffeecup", 23 July 2004. Retrieved on 27 October 2014.</ref> The bill expanded the government's role in caring for the elderly, including features of what would eventually become Medicare.
ReferencesEdit
- Max J. Skidmore: Social Security and Its Enemies, Westview Press, 1999