Joe Conason from Salon writes about Winston Churchill and the origins of the British National Health system. He quotes Churchill below…

In March 1944, he eloquently explained his views on medicine and society to the members of Royal College of Physicians in London:

The discoveries of healing science must be the inheritance of all. That is clear. Disease must be attacked, whether it occurs in the poorest or the richest man or woman simply on the ground that it is the enemy; and it must be attacked just in the same way as the fire brigade will give its full assistance to the humblest cottage as readily as to the most important mansion. Our policy is to create a national health service in order to ensure that everybody in the country, irrespective of means, age, sex, or occupation, shall have equal opportunities to benefit from the best and most up-to-date medical and allied services available.

That is what he helped to do — and for the rest of his life, he fought against the impression that his old adversaries in Labor had established the system alone.