A missing factor in the health care debate

I'm working from memory of something I read a few years ago and can't find a link to, so I can't guarantee accuracy here.

Did you ever notice how in almost any old town in the United States you will see a prominent building from the turn of the 20th century that was built by a strange social club like the Moose Lodge, Elks, Odd Fellows, etc? Did you wonder how these social clubs got enough money and power to build these buildings? Did you ever wonder why they were so popular, why so many people joined them, and why they all lost popularity?

They were health care companies. In addition to the attraction of being a social club, these social clubs would contract with young doctors, fresh out of college and looking for work, to give free/cheap on-demand basic health service to their membership for a bargain rate. These doctors would then get flooded with work to the point that they were working well over 40 hours a week. The doctors formed a political action group, and Congress outlawed the practice in the 1910s or 1920s. People had joined the clubs to get cheap health care, and people stopped joining without that incentive.

Apparently there is still a law somewhere on the books that forbids these arrangements. Otherwise the unions would be doing it. There's low chance of getting a repeal through Congress because it would increase competition, and the health care industry has enough sway over both parties to halt reform on this issue.