Evening star., 1932-03-20

h low, let us think uf the application TO the
entire population of the United States of
the advantages provided to the policyholders
of a single company. Would it not pay to
take all necessary steps. at whatever financial
COST thus to reduce the death rate? Perhaps
because it is nobodys business to force down
the death rate among the whole population
OF the United States, we go on unconcerned.
All told. we pay, on the average. about SIS
a year apiece for all forms of medical care
At first sight it might seem that this amount
distributed over population of which perhaps
only per cent are sick at any time, ought
to be adequate. In the same way, our army of
doctors and nurses and our array of hospital
beds would seem to be enough for every need
Yet they do not keep us from being compared
with what is possible, sick nation. What is
the trouble?
The first difficulty is that our medical facili-
ties are not located where all of us can get to
them. Let us consider doctors In the United
States as a whole, according to the most recent
available studies there are 126 physicians for
each 100000 of population. or one physician for
every 300 persons Yet in the Pacific States
there Is an average of one physician for every
578 persons, while in North Carolina and
Montana the population must get along with
one doctor for every 400 inhabitants This
uneven distribution of medical facilities pre-
Sents one of the most critical problems in
medical care today
The country over, there has been a tendency
In recent years for doctors to leave rural dis
ulctS and small towns and migrate to the
cities. The same effect is achieved when an
oid-time country doctor dies or retires and no
young doctor comes to take his place De-
spite the general advance in medicine some
American communities are actually worse off
as far as medical care is concerned than thew
were generation ago. Under such circ,1m-
stances. 1t is only natural that many prevent
aole diseases, such as diphtheria, smallpox and
typhoid fever, should continue to make inroads
General hospitals are as unevenly distributed
as are Americas country doctors. For the
country as whole there is one bed in general
community hospitals for every 27O inhabitants
Inc States In the North Atlantic group average
one Such bed for every 198 persons while the
South Central States have only one bed for
ooS persons Wisconsin leads all States in
the proportion of general community hospital
beds, while South Carolina Is at the other ex-
Ieme with only one bed to 74s persons
Ii this were because Southerners did not need
hospitals as much as do their fellow country
men In New England, the situation would be
no cause for worry. But Southerners do need
hospitals They need more than they have
Iney are short of them because, for reasons
for which they are not to blame, they have
been unable to find sufficient capital with
Wnicn TO build them. The South has been
called Americas last frontier, because it pre-
Sents so many opportunities yet to be devel-
oped. Most parts of the South are. however.
mak''g great progress in their schools. their
living standards and their medical facilities
But there Is no doubt that one of the regions
greatest opportunities lies in the investment
OF money to cure and to prevent sickness.
RUT the poor distribution of our medical
- facilities h. not the only defect found In
medical service. In addition TO the millions
ny find
hospital there are other millions who cannot
AFFORD to pay them when they are within reach.
a family of four with an income of $3o0e q
year should be able to pay $1eo a year to
cover all expenses of illness, and this is all
that it would have to pay if 1T were assessed
only its share of the present national average
OF the costs of sickness
Two specific instances may be selected from
many thousands of schedules in which typical
American families set down for the COMMITTEES
Continued on ThirteeRth Page