Montana labor news., 1944-03-16
FACTS ABOUT THE
MURRAY WAGNER
DTNCELL BILL

In public addresses and news articles
commenting on the Murray Wagner
Dingell bill, it is being charged that, "A
system Of completely socialized medicine
may be foisted upon the people" So
cialized medicine is a term being en-
ployed to discredit the proposal for a
system of health insurance by the oppo-
nents of any change in medical practice.
The doctors of Butte have made a
good thing out Of their contract practice.
Thousands of dollars Of the miners
money have gone into their pockets.
This money has given them steady and
generous incomes, enabled them to build
up fine practices and to establish suc-
cessful clinics.
The miners, however, have been pro-
tected only against injury Or illness con-
nected with their job. For sickness from
causes outside of their work and for
sickness in their families, they have had
to pay extra or go without needed medl-
cal care. The high costs Of modern
medicine forces l%ow-income families to
neglect taking proper precaution to pro-
tect the health of their children. The
reult is, we have a much lower record
of health in poorer families than in the
families of the well-to-do.
IF the costs of medical care for acct
dents and sickness connected with our
jobs can be paid for by means Of payroll
deductions" say the miners, why can't
we pay for all our sickness on the same
plan and for sickness in our families as
wen?"
This seems a reasonable idea. 1t is,
in fact, the method proposed on a ma
tional scale by the Wagner-Murray-
Dingen bill. This bill proposes to estab-
lish a system of health insurance which
will enable self-supporting people to pay
in advance through small, regular con-
tributions from their earnings, for the
medical and hospital care they and their
families may need.
Our own Senator Murray, along with
Senator Wagner of New York and Rep
r%esentative Dingell of Michigan, intro
duced this bill IS. 116l) in Congress.
Unions who are vigorously supporting
this bill expected the physicians of the
country TO provide helpful suggestions
for its improvement. Instead, led by a
propaganda committee in Chicago-the
so-called National Physicians Commit
tee for the Extension of Medical Care
and urged on by re%actionary elements Of
the American Medical Association, some
of the doctors have been denouncing the
medical aspects of this bill and carrying
on a vicious and misleading campaign
against it. AS a result, not only doctors
but hospital people and even members
of the clergy have been misled. How
ever, this is not the attitude Of the
entire medical profession.
when people can't pay, we take care
of them free of charge" says the doc
tors. cur doors are open to the needy
say the hospitals. Charity from doctors
and hospitals is not what self-respecting
people want. They do not wish to be
questioned about their ability or lack of
ability to pay for the care they need.
They know they can avoid these intru-
sions upon their self-respect if they pay
for their medical care in advance
through insurance-through Che method
Of social insurance provided by the
Wagner y-Dingell bill.
The purpose Of this bill is to establish
a comnrehensive system of social in
surance to protect the people Of the
United States against the major hazards
Of life: old age, loss of wage on ac-
Continued on Page Four