1961.

The British National Health Service has been running for over ten years.

Some American politicians are speaking of extending Social Security to cover health care for the elderly.

The American Medical Association fears such a plan would lead to an American national system which would curtail their profits.

The solution:

Operation Coffee Cup.  Doctors’ wives would organize coffee groups to listen to Reagan’s record and write congress about their fears of “socialized medicine.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRdLpem-AAs[/youtube]

How influential was this?

Reagan was an unemployed actor (his acting career at at at end but at the time is was the host of Death Valley Days) at the time with political ambitions.  The record helped start his political career.

Fifteen percent of Americans do not have health insurance today.   In 2009, a study estimated that 45,000 Americans died due to a lack of health insurance. link