Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1944-05-19

well-organized farmer-business asso-
Citations.
In the cities, workers who are buy
ing hospital protection pay for it by
payroll deduction. Farmers, who en-
roll through banks, authorize those
institutions to make periodic deduc-
tons from their checking or savings
accounts to pay the required fees.
Where they enroll through cream
cries or cooperatives, periodic de-
auctions are made from their cream
or grain checks and those who en-
roll through the grange, farm bureau
or farmers union pay their fees on
quarterly, Semiannual or annual
basis, mostly the latter two.
How the Plan Works.
Although there are II different
group plans for hospital care and
they differ from each other in some
minor details, here is the essen
tial method of their operation: The
hospitals in a certain region-city,
county or State-guarantee hospital
service to Blue Cross subscribers,
whether they are members of
groups in factories. city offices, edu-
cational institutions, clubs, union
organizations or farm groups, who
have agreed to pay certain amount
for this service at regular intervals.
This amount varies somewhat ac-
cording to the group plan. Men,
bership costs from $7.20 to 5000
year for one person and from SIS
to $24 year for the member and
his family, including his wife and all
unmarried children under the age of
10. In Minnesota, where the pioneer
ing work in farm enrolment was
done, there is a plan which offers a
man complete coverage for himself
and SO per cent discounts for his
wife and children at Sl2 year, plus
So for each adult dependent.
In return for these payments the
insured, or member of his family,
who has to 60 to hospital gets
semi-private room, his meals, gen.
eral nursing, anesthetics, special
diets, dressings, laboratory tests,
X-rays and operating room charges.
(This does not include, however, the
physicians or surgeons fees.) He
can enter any one of the country's
approved, registered hospitals, that
is those hospitals recognized as
meeting the standards of the Ameri-
can Medical association or state and
local agencies.
If for any reason one of these hos
pitfalls can't take him in because of
lack of room, some of the plans pay
back double the years premium,
but many of them provide cash pay
ments for home care equivalent to
the amount that the hospital care
would have been worth. However,
there have been very few instances
when Blue Cross member couldn't
get into a hospital becaue the num-
Der of these institutions which par
ticipate in the plan is $500 with 80
per cent of the bed capacity of all
the hospitals in the United States
open to the public.
Reference has been made to the
pioneering work done in Minnesota
in rural enrolment in hospital plans
1t began in 1888 under the auspices
of the farm bureau in Hennepin
county with 40 family contracts for
total service coverage of 80 per-
sons. Since then farm bureau men,
berships in that state have increased
to $500 contracts with 22,400 per-
sons covered for hospital care
These, in 1926 local units in 81 coun-
ties, have found the plan highly sue
cessful and satisfactory. There are
81 counties in the state and total
of 1900 farm bureau units so that
three-fourths of all the counties in
Minnesota now have units enrolled
in the Blue Cross and more than
one-fourth of the units are already
protecting themselves against sud-
den capitalization costs.
From Minnesota farm bureau