CALIFORNIA AND SICKNESS INSURANCE
A Report by MorrisFishbein, M.D.
Editor of The Journal of the American Medical Association
Since the House of Delegates of the California Medical Association went on record as favoring compulsory sickness insurance, some progress has occurred in that state in making the action effective. On April 12, 1935, the California legislature published as a part of the Senate Daily Journal the report of the Senate Committee on the "Investigation of the High Cost of Sickness." There are various points of view as to how this senate committee happened to be appointed, and particularly with the extraordinary title, emphasizing medical costs, under which it makes its report. Rumor has it that Dr. Walter B. Coffey, chief surgeon of the Southern Pacific Railroad, was primarily responsible—and he confirmed this impression in his statement to the legislature. The preliminary statements of the report indicate that certain foundations were