For the third time, Governor Warren is now advocating a compulsory health insurance program for California. In a message to the legislature January 3, he claimed that millions of people in California cannot pay for adequate medical care "without crippling their finances and without depriving themselves of other things that are needed to raise a good American family." He urged legislative adoption of a system of "health insurance to which everyone contributes and through which everyone will receive benefits in time of sickness."
Shortly thereafter a bill reputed to embody the governor's ideas, S. 157, to enact the "California Prepaid Health Service Act," was introduced in the California Senate. The program would be financed, in part, by compulsory payroll taxes, referred to as "contributions," imposed on employers and employees. The existing Department of Employment and a newly created Health Service Authority would administer the Act. This Authority would include the