Evening star., 1944-03-31
D. {. Medical Society
Praised for Program
OF Prepayment
Fishbein Says Doctors
Oppose Any Plan Thot
. Hurts Medical Service
By HAROLD b. ROGERS,
Star Staff CORRESPONDENT.

CHICAGO, Mar 31.-Approving
the attempts of the District Medical
Society to work out program for
prepayment medicine in the Ma
tional Capital, DR.. Morris Fishbein
editor of the journal of the Amer
lean Medical Association, says Or
ganized doctors of the country dc
not oppose prepayment" as such.
But" he declared in an exclu-
sive interview for The Washington
Star at ANA headquarters here
"the medical profession is opposed
to any plan which depreciates the
quality of medical service in order
to meet a low price,"
The ANA is out in front of a
, tight by organized physicians to
! prevent enactment of the Wagner
Murray-DingeH bill, broadening So
cial security to provide Federal
health insurance, DR.. Fishbein en-
phasized. This measure, which is
the center of a vigorous contro-
versy between it's advocates and
opponents, is being strongly op-
posed. he said, not only by the
ANA, but by individual medical
societies throughout the country.
Movement Gains Momentum.
But the movement to provide
more adequate medical services, for
the Nations ower-income groups
especially, he said, is rapidly gain
ing momentum in many parts of the
country, and is engaging the seri-
Gus study of both laymen and doc
tors.
DR.. Fishbein is familiar with the
study now under way by the District
Medical Society to establish a pro-
gram for prepayment medical care
which would be acceptable to the
public and to the doctors them
selves. The so-called Michigan plan
which is receiving the most atten-
tion in Washington now. has been
changed many times during the
course OF its operation, DR.. Fishbein
said.
The principal point of interest in
the Michigan plan, he said, is that ii
provides partial coverage only. "The
vast majority of people do not want
complete leverage for all kinds OF
medical care because it is too ex-
pensive, he said, "but they do want
protection against what we cal
catastrophe illness, such as serious
operations"
Less than 4 per cent of the
many plans in the country provid-
Ing medical service provide for COM
piete coVerage, such. as all medical
care. surgical service and hospital
ization.
Cost Is Lower.
TT is quite probable" he predicted
that most of our plans will develon
In the direction of partial coverage
where the cost is much lower. This
is somewhat like 'deductible' auto
mobile insurance, which is much
cheaper to carry because the first
$25 OF damage is payable by the car
owner, before his insurance cover
age starts =
Group disqualification plans are
growing by leaps and bounds, he
said.
Asked about the so-called Kaiser
plan OF medical care which gives
1ull coverage at low cost, DR.. Fish
bein said there was no objection on
the part OF organized medicine to
such plan. But. declaring the
Kaiser plan at the West Coast to be
still an experiment" he raised the
question of what would happen to
1t II and when the number of en-
ployes dropped after the war, seri-
ously curtailing the income.
Contending that he had been mis-
represented in some papers. regard
Ing his own position, and the posi-
ton of the ANA, on several current
problems on medicine, DR.. Fishbein
said he wanted to make clear his
position In regard to the pending
Wagner = Murray Dingell bill. He
pointed to the conclusions of the
Council on Medical Service and
Public Relations of the ANA on
the bill. which said:
THE enactment of this bill will
destroy the private practice of med
icine. 1t will create a political sys-
tenn of medicine dictated by Fed
eral bureaucracy. 1t will lower the
high health level of the people of
the United States. Its enactment
should be vigorously onposed