The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1944-03-17
RADIO BROADCAST OVER KFBB
February IS, 1914, $3.50 PM.
BY B. |. STEINMETZ
President, Cascade County Trades
and Labor Assembly

To disagree and voice honest differ
ences of opinion is traditionally Amer
lean, but when an attempt is made t
formulate public opinion on an i'm
portant issue by misstatement of fact
that is something else.
An attempt has been made to in
fluence you to believe that the med
ical provisions of the Wagner Murra,
amendments to the Social Securit,
Act, Senate Bill 1161, would MAKE
your life and death subject to the
dictates of some bureaucrat. The
term bureaucrat of course is boogit
man somewhat like the scarecrows
we set out to scare birds away from
our crops, they are perfectly harmless
unless like the crows, you can be in
duced to fear them. 1t is not my pur
pose to attempt to convince you that
the Wagner-Murray Bill is a perfect
instrument however, | do insist that
the fundamental principals of the bill
are sound and workable.
AS you know, we have at present
|
limited benefits as old age and sur
vivors' insurance, but without any
provision for medical care or hospital
| ization. This is the insurance pro-
vided or by the 10 deduction from
your wages, the employer adds 10
of your wages as his contribution to
this insurance fund, and also pays go
of the amount of your wages to pro-
vide an unemployment compensation
fund out of which an unemployed
have built up an unemployment insur-
ance account, is entitled to a maxi
mum of $500 a week for a maximum
of 16 weeks, provided the U. S. EN-
ployment Service office is unable to
find job for the unemployed worker.
This is not charity, but insurance
which the worker and employer pay
for on the basis of actual employment
Too frequently the opponents of So
cial legislation refer to these bene-
fits as "doles" or grants" in an
effort to arouse the pride inherent in
most of us so that we will resent
being the object of this unholy char
ity therefore, / want to emphasize
that social security and unemploy-
ment benefits are not charity, these
benefits accrue to the insured as a
right under a compulsory insurance
plan.
Aside from the medical provisions
of the Murray amendments,
the bill extends coverage to all EN-
ployed and self-employed workers,
while under the existing bill only GER
tain groups are covered This bill
would also extend the number of bene-
fit weeks to rs instead of 16 as at
present, and increases the minimum
amount of benefit so that the smallest
benefit a retired worker or his aged
widow could receive would be $4,000
month instead of $1,000 as at pres
emit For these additional benefits it
is proposed that the employer pay an
additional 2@o of wages paid, and that
the worker pay an additional so,
making a total of SO paid by EACH
the employer and the worker. 1t must
be obvious to all then, that this bill
is no "gravy-wagon" or "hand-out" to
anyone, but is an honest effort on the
part of its sponsors to eliminate some
of our most devastating economic
evils through national insurance
To admit that a doctor would work
only eight hours day under the
provisions of the WagnerMurray bill,
and not be available for emergencies,
would be shameful admission, for no
where in the bill is there any refer
ence to the number of hours doctor
should or could work There is, how
ever, provision made for correcting
the type of service your doctor fur
nishes if you have reason to believe
you are not getting the service you
are entitled to. Section 906, under
Hearings and Appeals" states, and
quote, 1.-THE surgeon general is hereby
to establish necessary and
sufficient hearing and appeal bodies
to hear and determine complaints
under this title, from practitioners
who have entered into agreement for
provision of services as benefits I'M
der this title, and from participating
hospitals, and to take such steps as
may be appropriate and are not con-
trary to any other provision of this |
act to remedy the grounds for COM
plant, if any" Unquote. This sec |
ton of the bill further provides for |
the settlement of disputes among doc
tors themselves with the specification |
that confines the hearing body to dis
interested doctors.
| think you are entitled to know |
Just how much politics will enter into |
your doctor can practice un-
der the bill or not. Hitler has made |
good use of the colossal lie in his
machine, but it is unthink-
able to believe that the medical pro-
'ession would knowingly lift a page
from "Mein Kampf". However, here
are the qualifications, and the only
insofar as the Wagner
Murray bill governs which doctor
shall, or which doctor shall not prac-
ice under the bill, and l quote Sec
lion 905, Paragraph 1, ANY physician
qualified by a state to furnish any
services included as benefits under
his title shall be qualified to furnish
such services as benefits under this
title Except as otherwise provided |
IN paragraph of this section), in
accordance with such rules and regu-
ations as may be prescribed. I'M