The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-01-14

Washington, D. c, Jan l4-Ai
 least ten per cent of the people oi the United States cannot afford ad'
 equato medical care, even thougl the cost were distributed according
 to some insurance plan; and ad- equate dental service Is beyond the
 roach of approximately half of the nations population, according to q report just made public by the Committee on tho Costs of Medical Care In Washington, D. C.
 This report, now being published for the first time. contains numof' ous new facts considered by the committee In tho formulation of It's final report and recommends tons made public on November goth, advocating group payment for medical service. supplemented by tax subsidies in areas where in- comes are extremely low.
 Tho report, "The Ability to Pay for Medical Care" by Louis Reed, Ph.D., being published by the unl- versity of Chicago Press, was the twenty-ffth report completed by the Committee on tho Costs of Medical Care.
 The incomes of tho people In at least four states---Alabama, Ar kansas, Mississippi and Tennessee -are insufficient to pay for ade- Quate medical services for all ln- habltants, the report points out.
 Because of the unusual economic conditions and the rapid changes that have occurred during the past three years. the data in tbjs report were limited to the years 1928 and 1929. Even duing those compar- atlvely prosperous years, the au- thor of the report states, q con. siderable portion of the population could not afford to pay the costs Of urgently needed medical care, re- gardless of how the costs of such caCo were distributed. In the group above the lowest economic level, however, many people were unable to pay for the medical care they were receiving bcause of the uneven distribution of costs-not because the average costs over period of years were financially be- yond their reach.
 $3O.OS Per Capita in 1929
 In 1929. the American people spent a to."l cf $3,G56. 900, or $30.0S per capitt, for medical care, according to thS report. or this amount, $2.SS5, 5,790,000 represented the fees of patients. S509, ,5O0.o0o was paid from tax funds, SlSl,7lV,- 900 was provided by voluntary con and donations and $79,- O00.0 was borne by industry.
 The report states that the aver age expenditure of $S0.0S per cap fla conceals the great variation m medical costs among families III a single year or for the same faml- lies In different years. It states that in any ono year the majority or families of any income level Hn- cured comparatively small ex- penses for medical care. A small however, had much or severe illness and were compelled to incur charges for medical serv- ice amounting to one-fourth and occasionally even to one-half or their annual income.
 Among representative families whose incomes ranged between $l,- 200 and $2,00O a year. approXi- eight per cent had medical charges of more than S2OO during the 12 month petiod studied, ana two per cent had sickpess costs or over $400. according to figures cited in the report.
 Adequate Care Beyond Reach
 On the basis of the study. the author of the report estimates that adequate dental care would cost s44 per year per family He believes this is beyond the means of the fifty-three per cent of those fami- lies in this country which have in- comes below $2.000 a year.
 The average family income in Arkansas, Mississippi and for the years studied was less than s1.6OO. while ade- quate medical care and a minimum of dental service would cost approx imateiy $103 per family annually
 Free Care for Low Income
 The report states that families in the lowest economic group with annual incomes of less than st,2oo