Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-02-26
STATE MORTALITY
AVERAGE HIGHEST
385,OOO Employees Con-
stantly Sick, Health Insur.
ance Body Finds
INDUSTRY is BL AIMED
Poor Draft Showing Cited in
First Report Of Com.
mission

Striking facts are revealed in the first
report Of the Pennsylvania Health In
surance Commission, now in the hands
OF the printer.
In it's brief existence it has found
that $4,000 employees in this state are
constantly Ill, 10000 Of them likely to
be confined for long time and the
e45.oo0 others suffering temporary Ill
nesses.
y In the draft 1857 per cent of the men
between twenty-one and thirty-one years
OF age were rejected. while the average
percentage for the country was only
2s11.
Death rates are higher here in Penn
sylvania than the average for the whole
country.
Industrial accidents are responsible
fc- the loss Of 3.O25,371 days, while the
total number of days lost through illness
is 16,so0,0oo.
objects Of Commission
The commission was appointed July
25, 1917, to investigate l) sickness and
accidents to employees and their families
not relieved by the wvrKmen's compensa-
tion act of 1916; (s) the adequacy OF
present methods Of treatment and care
of sickness (3) the adequacy OF present
methods of meeting losses through In
surance and fraternal compensation p
the influence of working conditions ON
the health Of employed persons. and (5)
the methods for preventing such SICK
ness
The commission has endeavored TO
prove that suffering caused by illness
of employees extends itself to general
loss to the community, socially and eco
nomicaily. Because so few employees
in the state are covered with sickness
insurance. many Of them return to WORK
before thew are able, some continue work
throughout illness, some receive made
ouate treatment and all return TO WORN
with the weight of Indebtedness
industry is itself largely to blame Tor
the prevalence of Illness. 1t Is asserted
The report says. mo other state has
40 wide a variety Of those Industrial
processes which carry with them danger
to the workers, either because OF
poison In the form Of fumes, LIQUIDS or
dusts or because of mechanically irri-
tating dusts which injure the throat and
lungs"
In this connection the commission has
found that 70 per cent of deaths to
persons Of working age during 1916
were from diseases whose connection
with important Pennsylvania industries
has been established, and death rates
from degenerstive diseases are steadily
increasing.
shun Health Insurance
worlmen are fairly well covered witt
life insurance, but have shown a dis
position not to take health insurance
ono reason for this may be because
many fraternal companies take onl,
those between the ages Of sixteen ant
fifty years, and only three Of the com
panies examined by the commission ex
tended their benefits to, dependents O.
the employe.
Because of the lack Of compensation
the. state has been under a burdei
which amounts to millions of dollar
annually. More than 100000 is spen
by Pennsylvania on hospitals an,
34.0o0,000 on institutions for detectives
Not alone the state and employees los
through the high rate of illness ant
death, the report says. but also EN-
ployers, who have been tardy in recog
mixing the need for health insurance
have been losing large sums annual.
through employees absence, reduced ef
fciency and the necessity for trainin
new workers.
Eficiency Is Reduced
In the coal regions alone the loss o
2.142,o00 days in 1917 meant reduce,
production of 100000 tons Of COAL
The commission does not regard II
work as more than started. In submit
ting the report 1t asks for the appoint
ment of another and larger commissio
and an appropriation of $4,000 to con
tinue the investigation before q healtl