Montana labor news., 1945-09-20
U. S. fi!NC PEOPLES AMBITIONS

A SECOND BILL OF
RIGHTS FOR THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE
Editors Note: The following
article was prepared for Federated
Press and the Montana Labor News
by the Physicians Forum Inc,
national organization Of progress
sive physicians interested in ex-
tending adequate medical care TO
all people)
1--WE have accepted, so to speak, a
second Bill of Rights under which a
new basis of security and prosperity
can be established for all-regardless
Of station, race or creed . the right
to adequate medical care and the op-
portunity to achieve and enjoy good
health; the right to adequate protection
from the economic fears of old age,
sickness, accident and unemployment"
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
January 1874.
The achievement Of such a bill Of
rights lies within our grasp now. The
new Wagner-Murray- -Dingell bill Is
1850 is the means of obtaining it. This
bill is an amendment to the present
social security law which not only ex-
tends the coverage of social insurance
to about Is million people not now Gov
cred but includes many other forms of
insurance which increase the security
and prosperity OF all people. 1t pro-
vides for 1) retirement, survivors and
extended disability insurance, ~ medi-
cal care and disqualification insurance,
(3) unemployment insurance and "a
temporary disability insurance.
To supply all these forms OF security,
the bill provides for insurance contri-
buttons of 496 each from employer and
employees on all wages up to $4,000 a
year. The federal government will also
supply additional funds if they are re-
quired (Self-employed persons will
contribute on different basis.)
The section of this bill which is Of
greatest interest to doctors is the sec
ton providing for medical care and
disqualification insurance Working peo-
pie have always feared and dreaded
illness and this is natural because
medical care costs money and good
medical care is expensive. That is why
so many people do not get adequate
care. And when a man is sick that is
the very time when he is least able
TO pay for medical care, that is the time
when income goes down and the bills
pile up.
So far all efforts to solve this prob
lem have resulted only in makeshift
voluntary insurance plans which are
expensive and do not provide complete
coverage, or in industrial insurance
plans which usually do not cover the
workers wife or children For this
reason all the voluntary insurance plans
now operating in this country have
merely scratched the surface of the
workers needs. Even hospital insurance
plans, which are not SO expensive, have
only reached about l2a5 Of the popu-
lation after II years of operation
The Wagner Murray -Dingell bill pro-
vides a system OF sickness and hospital
insurance which is available to prac-
tically the entire population at a price
which it can pay, The cost OF this
insurance will require contributions Of
l15q6 of the workers pay on wages up
to $1,000 a year. This is included in
the 4qo mentioned above)
This means that for a maximum con
tribution of $54 year (on an annual
wage of $4,000 the worker and his
family would be entitled to complete
medical care, the best medical care,
preventive and curative. 1t would in
clude all the services usually given by
general practitioners, plus all necessary
laboratory work, plus all the services
rendered by specialists when needed
and it wouldn't matter whether the
services were rendered in the doctors
office or in the patients home or in a
hospital. 1t would also include dental
and home nursing benefits.
Naturally, those who earn less would
pay less in proportion to income but
all would get the same amount and
quality of benefits regardless Of their
level of income
For the first time, the people Of
America could feel secure in the lace
of illness. No doctors bills to pay.
No putting off medical care for fear
of the expense No wishing you could
afford the X-rays the doctor says you
should have or that visit to a specialist
when you need one. No worry about
how to meet the expense of your wife's
confinement or the medical care of the
baby after it has arrived. No worry,
either, about the government debating
to you which doctor you can go to,
because you can choose your own.
The need to pass the Wagner Muir
ray-Dingell bill is more urgent now
than ever for we are facing the read
justments of the postwar reconversion
period. This bill is one of the most
important means by which we can hope
to ease the transition to peacetime jobs
and security