The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1946-12-26
Fight For Health
THE TRUTH ABOUT GROUP
HEALTH INSURANCE

(Sec0nd or series OF A articleS)
Last week we described how
hundreds of unions made a logical
adjustment to the governments
wage stabilization policy during
the war. Faced by steadily rising
prices at the same time employers
were accommodating the biggest ex-
cess profits in history, they devel-
oped a new issue for collective bar
| gaining. Through successful nego-
tiations for group insurance, they
won important protection for their
members against various expenses
arising from sickness.
This type of coverage has been
improperly called "health insur-
ance" for many years. 1t is long
step in the right direction, since
it recognizes the employers res
possibility for the health of his
workers. And partial protection is
better than none at all, especially
if management pays the whole
premium.
Union members have a right to
know, however, that they cannot
sit back in the belief that they
have achieved full security against
sickness, one a health and accident
clause or disqualification expense
clause has been written into their
contract. Group insurance is not all
that it's cracked up to be.
First, it is not health insurance
| in the true sense Of the word, since
subscribers have to get sick before
they can collect the cash indemn-
ity. 1t does not increase the doe
tors opportunity to protect health
by practicing prevention - best
accomplished by routine, periodic
physical examinations. There is
thus no provisions for early dag
nosis and treatment, before SYM
ptoms develop, when the chance
for cure of most disease is great
est.
Second, group insurance does
not give real security, because it
doesn't furnish complete protec-
ton. Surgical expenses and hospit-
al charges may /be the heaviest
sickness costs, which the worker is
apt to remember longest, but ac-
tually they represent only frac-
ton Of what the average wage
Garner spends for medical care.
Bills for the services Of a ply
sician in the home and in the doc
tors office, along with expend-
lures for drugs, cost great deal
more in the long run. Very few
policies, however, give you this
kind Of coverage.
Even for the items which group
insurance plans include, protection
is limited 1t has to be, or else the
insurance companies would not
make their usual profits, which is
the reason they are in business.
Ask a union brother who may
have needed an operation recently,
for hernia, for example. He will
probably tell you that although he
collected 500, which is what the
usual policy allows for this type |
Of surgery, his actual bill was
closer to $3.50. Is that real secur-
ity? Doctors are only human, and |
some of them can be expected to |
jack up their prices when the real
ize that an insurance company is |
footing part of the mill
Just as great shortcoming of |
such cash indemnity plans in these
days of shortages-and this APP
plies TO Blue Cross disqualification
plans also-is that they do not
guarantee that sick subscriber
will get the medical attention he
needs at the time he needs it most.
All they do is pay the bill. The
patient himself has to find doc
tor who is not too busy to take
him, or TO locate hospital which |
has a bed available. If that is poss-
ible, so much the better for the
company. 1t vii have fewer bills
to pay.
But unions are not powerless, in
the face of these difficulties, to
provide genuine health insurance
for their members through col |
lective bargaining. Just the oppo-
site is true. Next week we will |
describe how few progressive |
unions have attacked the problem
realistically and are for the first |
time in the history of the Ameri-
can labor movement, helping their
members in the only effective man
ner to achieve and enjoy the bene-
fits Of good health. !