Evening star., 1928-05-26
High Cost of Illness.

The TACT has often been remarked
that the two classes who can really al
ford the best of medical care are the
/ well To do and the very poor. The for
mer. Of course. have no great difficulty
in meeting their bills while The latter
have 40 bills, but are adequately cared
for py the physicians and surgeons who
devote a part OF then time to charity
work There Is a great middle class
which is not SO fortunately situated It's
members demand the best OF medical
care. for nothing is too expensive where
health and life are al stake. But they
have TO pay for it and IN times OF mis-
fortune find a more than generous part
Of meager incomes going 10 meet the
doctors bills
The haSty conclusion might be that
not have to seek far 10 obtain first
hand testimony from the man who paid
$25 10 have an X-ray taken SIS for a
diagnosis and $40 as a laboratory tee,
ara in the end found that all he needed
was to take more exercise and stop cat
ing pie and milkShake for lunch. But
his case is not the meat OF the difficulty.
This man who paid $50 10 find that ne
vas fundamentally sound and healthy
would have paid the $50 for new radio
without a murmur But when he finds
that ne is Well ne yells Justify because
it cost him $50 to make the discovery
This gentleman will continue 10 pay
$50 at intervals ana continue 10 COM
plain about It. His complaints do not
matter The real complaints are those
that are never made: the silent suffer
ing. anc often the death. of those who
are too proud TO sccept medical atten-
ton at public clinic. but who have not
the money TO pay for the medical at
tention they really need
To reach some OF these sufferers and
to solve. IL possible. their difficulties,
the American Medical Association, the
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
the Public Health Service and other
agencies, financially supported by rhe
Carnegie Corporation the Milbank
Memorial Fund. the Russell Sage Foun-
cation and the Twentieth Century
Fund. have combined ON a program
OF research which will consume five
years. At the end OF that time data
Will be available which may solve the
problem OF now a family OF moderate
means can secure adequate medical at
tention at a cost which it can afford.
II is explained that the difficulty is
not in the amount of the physician s
charge. There are thousands OF phy-
sicians who barely manage TO make q
living While complaints of high
charges are in some cases justified, the
greatest difficulty Is the large NUMBER
OF separate bills. An operation requires
a nurse, a laboratory fee, often an x
raw examination. an operating room
fee and a fee for the anesthetist as
we'll as hospital charges FOR food and
quarters This is in addition 10 the
surgeons fee Yet an examination
may reveal that the bactericlogtst in the
laboratory. the nurse. the x-ray spe-
cialist. the anesthetist and the hos
pital are all in financial straits. and
none Is wealthy or even well 10 DO
Something is wrong with the system
and the investigation now being made
Is aimed At finding the sore spot
A discovery of the cause Of the evil
and its cure would furnish the most
adequate arguments against State med
lcine 1t would also count as another
great step In lowering the death rate