Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-15
l5,O0O,GOO,OOO ESTIMATE
OFU. S. ANNUAL SICK BILL
DIR. Homer Folks Says Wage Loss Alone Is
Billion, While Sl2O,OOO,OOO Additional
Goes to "Quacks."

are IN tie United States 1910 hospitals
of which 2,08S are governmental and
5,522 governmental. The number
of beds In the governmental hospitals Is
53S.4S4 and in the governmental
hospitals 81 1898, a total of 845,477.
estimate a total of $404. sol .572 for hos
pital maintenance per annum in tho
United States. which represents per
capita per annum of $337 and a per
annum cost per family of 4.3 persons
/ OF Sl4.49.
The cost of nursing care is estimated
ct Sl5l 900. 900 per annum, or a per
capita expenditure per annum of Sl.27
or S5,S6 per family.
Medicines Costs.
! Expenditures for medicines, drugs
supplies, slck-room equipment. etc. Ur
Fo.Ks estimated at $700, zoo, 900 per year
! or $3.50 per capita, or $24.08 per fam
! ily He stated that the census of man
ufactures published by the United
! States Census Bureau indicates a cost
al factory of patent medicines three
times that of druggist preparations.
The cost of dental care was estimated
| at $2.37 per capita per annum and
! $l0.l9 per family, total of S285 ,000. 900
| per year.
He estimated the loss of wages dur
ing illness. including mental sickness. at
81 ,245, 100000 and termed 1t "a con-
sentative estimate"
Expenditures for the prevention of
Illness" said DR.. Folks, include some
SIS 100000 by the u. S. Public Health
Service, about S13.000.0o0 by the State
departments of health. and very SUBJ
stantial items for the larger municipal
tiles, lesser sums for the smaller cities
Il ts1S,
by the voluntary health agencies. The
total expenditures of public health au-
thorities for the prevention of disease
in the United States i'm the year 1923
are estimated by DR.. Harry H. Moore at
SEQ 100000.
The expenditures of voluntary health
agencies are substantial. conserva-
tive estimate of their total expendi-
lures per annum would be $10,000,000,
or total for both public and private
health agencies of $76.290, 900, or SO
cents per capita and S2.7l per family.
per annufn.
DR.. Folks stated that DR.. Louis 1.
Dublin, statistician of the Metropolitan
Life Insurance Co. of New York, as a
result of an exhaustive calculation OF
losses in the form of sacrifice of future
net earnings on account of preventable
deaths in the United States per year,
estimated the amount at $4,000 ,000. 600.
preventable Loss.
"It would be a conservative estimate
to double his estimate OF losses due TO
preventable deaths, and place the loss
arising from all deaths due to sickness
in the productive period OF life at Sl2..
900 900 900 per annum in the United
States. This will seem to most persons
an astonishingly large sum, especially
as 1t amounts to an average OF SlOO per
annum per capita and $3.50 per family.
But it should be borne in mind that the
total income of the people OF the United
States In 1928 is estimated at $780,
600 900 600, and that had it not been
for the losses incurred on account OF
illness up 70 date OF recovery or oeatn,
that income would have been $lO3,!3l
424,D86. Furthermore. had 1t not been
for the losses due to the sacrince OF ~
t,,re earning power on account OF deaths
due to sickness. this total income would
have been increased by another $1,000
00o. 900 and would have totaled SilS,-
73i. 424 086."
various institutions and methods for
securing better care OF the sick, eSpe-
ciaily hospitals, clinics and nursing
AGENCIES. have resulted in some degree
of distribution of certain Of the costs
of illness. he said. The cost OF meoi.
cal attention. for instance. Is distrinuteo
to a slight extent among insurance COM
panies. factories. fraternal orders, trace
,,s,ions Educational institutions, poor
law AUTHORITIES and others. but. gen.
erallv speaking, the cost OF medicsi
service to patients In their homes IS
hnrne throughout the United states,
WITH uninuortant exceptions, by the
,,atients themselves and by their faini-
lies" -,
He contrssted European and Ameri-
can methods Of dealing with the costs
of illness. stating that there Is notnlng
IN any state in the Union correspond
ing TO a system OF governmental neaIIn
insurance such as exists In many Euro.
pean countries. nor did he recommend
such. l..
"These plans OF so-called health m
sirance have relatively little 10 90 Win
health as We use the term In the pubic
health movement. and are, IN essence.
an effort TO distribute the cost OF illness
among larger groups than patients AND
their families rather than to prevent
Illness" he said.
Hospital as Factor.
He stated that "the modern hospital
has become the largest factor In ois.
tributing the direct cost OF illness" and
added: Combining public and private
hospitals in New York State. with
total expenditure of $4,000 900. the re-
ceipts from patients or their relatives
or friends amount TO s20.15O,OOO. WINE
s25. $50 900 was met by others than the
patients benefited, coming from sacn
sources as endowments. voluntary con-
tributions and public TAXATION.
country as a whole, Dr. Folks estimated
that receipts from patients or their
relatives and friends In the United
States amount annually to 1851 $50 $50,
with Si42,94i, 2i2 coming from other
sources
Nursing service may be divided into
two groups: One. the care OF paying
patients in private nursing practice; the
other, the visiting or district nursing
service. The cost Of the former type OF
nursing amounts TO an estimated total
Of Sl40, 400 900 per annum. THIS
amount is paid by the recipients OF such
care, who are of necessity the relatively
weil-to-do. The sill 500, 900 spent In
bedside care by visiting nurse associa-
tons Is almost wholly distributed among
the supporters Of such organizations"
He computed that 81 per cent OF the
cost If dispensaries was distributed
among the total number OF supporters
of the dispensaries, including many vol
untary contributors and also the entire
body OF taxpayers. while Is per cent
Was paid by the patients.
Preventive Bureaus.
There is no authoritative estimate
| for the distribution of cost OF medicines
and sickronnl giIunlies and there is very
little distribution Of the cost of dental
care. The loss arising from absence Of
wages, or from the lack of the fruits Of
labor on the part OF those self-enl-
] ployed. with minor exceptions, is not
distributed, but falls upon the patients
and their families. Costs Of quacks are
/ not dist rihiffad