The Union County journal. [volume] (Marysville, Ohio) 1875-1951, 1946-06-06
'SOCIALIZED MEDICINE IS DECRIED BY
KIWANIS SPEAKER MONDAY EVENING

covered by some form of health and
accident insurance at the end Of
1915; that nearly 21,000,000 are
protected against hospital cXpcn-
SeS by Blue Cross Plans, incIud-
ing over 100000 in Ohio-one-
third of the states population.
Explain Doctors Plan"
He explained '"The Doctors
Plan, which provides surgical and
medical care benefits to the people
of Ohio at economical rates, on &
non-profit basis in conjunction with
the hospital benefits Ct Blue
Cross. This will be done by Ohio
Medical Indemnity, Inc, recently
organized by the Ohio State Medi-
cal Association and now enrolling
subscribers i'm southwestern Ohio
to improve health conditions.
The Doctors Plan" soon will
be available to the public in I'm
ion county through Central Hos
pital service, the Blue Cross plan
in Columbus.
An extended program of disease
prevention through increased state
and local expenditures for public
health; improved housing, nutri-
ton, sanitation and recreation; adj
ditional hospital facilities; expand
ed programs of health education in
the public schools; and better
health service in rural areas, were
among the other factors cited by
Saville as he explained the 25-
point Health Program for Ohio, a
dopted by the Ohio State Medical
Association at its Centennial An
niVersary Meeting in Columbus
last month.
Stress Preventive Measures
Money efficiently spent for such
public health functions as the con-
troll of communicable diseases ;
protection of water, milk and food
supplies; and proper sewage dis
posal will actually decrease the a.
mount of medical care necessary
and pay dividends in better health
to the individuals in the COmmun-
ity. Ohio, the fourth wealthiest
state in the nation, instead of look
ing to the federal government for
more funds, should accept its
rightful responsibility for public
| health expenditures. At present
/ cities and counties inalOhio are
spending 81 cents annually per
capita for public health; the state
z cents and the Federal Govern
ment 20 cents for activities in this
state. Because of the lack of state
funds, entire divisions of the State
Department of Health are sup
ported by Federal money We a
gree with DR.. Roger +. Heering,
State Director of Health, that O.
hio should at least support her
central administration, leaving
Federal funds for distribution to
local health districts economically
unable to support adequate health
services, Saville continued.
1T would be ill-adViSed for the
Congress, faced with many more
pressing problems, including the
ees Of the Federal payroll and re-
and the easing of tax burdens, to
look faVOrably on the Wagner
Murray-Dingell bill-a proposal of
unpredictable cost which would
add tens of thousands of employ
ees to the Feedral payroll and re-
quirc additional taxes, at least
four per cent of income up to
$4,000 annually. Congress has g.
nough troubles on its hands with
out undertaking the specialization
of the medical, dental and nurs-
ing professions and the hospitals
of this country. The medical pro-
feSSion believes that the American
people will get better medical care
through the extension of voluntary
insurance programs, retaining the
private practice of the medical and
allied profession, than through the
initiation of a politically-controlled
governmental, compulsory sickness
insurance scheme, he concluded.