1974: Dellums on healthcare

A mid-70's look at the Urban League
401 Selby Avenue, St. Paul
Minnesota Historical Society

Many newly elected Republicans are preparing to take on parts of the federal health care overhaul as they get ready to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives. It shouldn't come as a shock, really. Politicians have probably been debating the virtues of health care since the first Cro-Magnon sat shivering in his cave overcome with a fever and cough.

In that tradition, here is an excerpt from a speech then-U.S. Rep. Ronald Dellums, D-Calif., gave in front of the St. Paul Urban League in 1974.

Dellums is currently mayor of Oakland. But he represented Northern California's 9th district as a Congressman from 1970-1998. His Socialist leanings come out in this hypothetical look at a Congressional argument for and against free health care.

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