Current debates over the role of doctors in a state-run health insurance program are nothing new to Canadians. Since 1911, when developments in Britain first focused attention on the issue in Canada, public health insurance has been a contentious subject with the medical profession. David Naylor traces the activity of medical interest groups in the debate, from its first volleys to the enactment of the Medical Care Act in 1966.

The contributors include prominent specialists in medical, military, and labour history, who provide valuable examinations of such issues as the ideological origins of the welfare state, the experience of the Canadian Army Medical Corps during the First World War, and the development of neuropsychology during the Second World War. Several essays are particularly relevant to contemporary concerns. A history of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in Canada, extended to include present-day research, reveals underlying flaws in the approach to STDs taken by Canadian governments and the medical...

Naylor's particular concern is with the nature and extent of the medical profession's opposition at both the provincial and federal levels. He details various developments in medical politics and policies, including the dispute over state health insurance plans in British Columbia during the depression, the national health insurance program drafted by the King government, the doctors' strike in Saskatchewan, and the development and eventual governmental rejections of prepayment plans sponsored by organized medicine. The author concludes that physicians regarded medical insurance schemes over...