Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1945-08-24

surance to about 100000
people not now covered, but
includes many other forms
of insurance which increase the
security and prosperity of all
the people. 1t provides for Cd
retirement, survivors and ex-
tended disability insurance; ~
medical care and disqualification
insurance; (3) unemployment in
surance; and "a temporary dis
ability insurance.
Working people have always
feared and dreaded illness and
this is natural because medical
care is not free; it costs money
and good medical care is ex-
pensive. That is why so many
people do not get adequate
care. And when a can is sick
that is the very time when he
is least able to pay for medical
care; that is the time when
wages stop and the bills pile up.
Four Per Cent Contributions
To pay for all these forms of
security, the bill provides for
insurance contributions of four
per cent each from employers
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 a different
basis.)
The section of this bill which
is of great interest to doctors is
the section dealing with medical
care and disqualification insur-
ance.
All efforts to solve this prob
lem have resulted so far in
makeshift voluntary plans which
are expensive and do not pro-
vide complete coverage, or in
industrial insurance plans which
usually do not cover the work
er's wife or children. For this
reason all the voluntary insur-
ance plans now operating in this
country have merely scratched
the surface of the workers
needs. Even the hospital insur-
ance plans, which are not so
expensive, have only reached
about 12% of the population
after IL years of operation.
A system of sickness and hos
pital insurance which is avail
able to practically the entire
population at a price which It'll
can pay is provided by thel
Wagner Murray-Dingell bill. The
cost of this insurance will re-
quire contributions of IL % of
the workers pay on wages up
to $4,000 a year. (This is in
cluded in the 40 mentioned
above.) This means that for
M XIMUM contribution of
$54.00 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 include 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 pa
tents home or on a hospital.
It would also include dental and
home nursing benefits.
Pay In Proportion
Naturally, those who earn
less would pay less in proper
ton to income, but all would
get the same amount and quail
ity of benefits regardless of
their level of income.
For the first time, the people
of America could feel secure in
the face of illness. No doctors
bills to pay. No putting off
medical care for fear of ex-
pense. No wishing you could af-
ford the x-rays the doctor says
you should have, nor that visit
TO a specialist when you need
one. No worry about how to
meet the expense of your wife's
confinement nor the medical
care of the baby after ii has ar
rived. No worry either, about |
the Government debating to
you which doctor you can go to,
because you can choose your
own. No more sitting on a clinic
bench for hours waiting for the
charity Of hand-out of medical
care.
We know that this sounds