Evening star., 1946-02-18
Medical Society
Plans Prepay
Sick Care Here
Voluntary System
Of Insurance Follows
AMA's Program
BY Harold B. ROGERS

HeQ extent tnrougn a voluntary
sickness insurance" system, is be-
ing completed by leaders of the
District Medical Society and
probably will be presented to the
public in the near future.
Details are not available as yet
but it is known the plan is entirely
separate from the proposal which
Group Health Association, Inc, an
nounced yesterday, for extension OF
its group practice medical care for
Government employees to the gen.
eral public.
The Medical Society plan, be-
Sieved to be in line with the ma
tional health program for prepaid
.neoical care now sponsored by the
American Medical Association, is
expected to provide for a lump sum
monthly payment to some pool OF
funds, free choice of a physician
and reimbursement to the physician
out of the pooled funds.
General lines of the Group Hos
pltallzatlon Inc. a corporation
through which subscribers buy hos
pital care by advance payments are
expected to be followed.
The Medical Society plan is the
result of many months of careful
study by the society's Subcommittee
on Prepaid Medicine and its Com
mittee on Medical Care.
The plan is understood, in effect
to be direct answer by organized
medicine to President Truman's re-
cent demand that Congress estab-
lish a compulsory health insurance
system as part of the social security
program of the Government.
The doctors plan would be volun-
tary, while the Governments sys-
tenn. now outlined in pending legis-
lation, would be compulsory anc
would operate on tax system. The
tax would be collected from wage
earners by payroll deductions.
Previous Attempt Failed.
The Medical Society has been
making study of prepayment sys-
TENS for years, long before the Fed
eral proposals took form. A pre-
vious attempt of the Medical So
ciety, years ago, to set up a volun-
tary sickness insurance system under
the name of Mutual Health Service
was abandoned. But the new plan
is understood to be more progressive
more practical and more compre-
hensive, worked out on the basis of
experience in other parts of the
country.
While there had been rumors
throughout the Capital for sometime
that the new program was far ad-
vanced, the Medical Society itself
now has come out in the open to
discuss the subject in the current
issue of its own official publication
Medical Annals.
An editorial. Our Task in 1946,
says:
From a social and economic point
of view, the most important matter
to be considered by the Medical So.
ciety of the District of Columbia this
year, is the medical prepayment plar
on which the subcommittee on pre-
pared medicine and the Committee
on Medical Care have been WORKING
for several months.
Vital Decision to Make.
This plan will be submitted tc
the society sometime early in the
wear. The society then will have tc
decide whether it intends to joir
the majority of medical societies il
this country in furthering the estab.
lishment of prepaid medicine. 1t i.
one of the most vital decisions oul
society has been called upon tt
make"
Inquiries at the Medical Society
concerning the matter led to no fur
ther disclosure of details. The Stal
was referred to Medical Annals
which considered the question moi
only in the editorial here quoted, but
also in reports from the December
meeting of the American Medica,
Association in Chicago. At that
meeting the leadership of the Wash
ington doctors in fight for approval
of the principle of voluntary health
insurance plans, was revealed ir
some detail.
The Washington delegation tc
Chicago included DR.. William Ear
Clark, society president, DR.. Courser
B. Conklin, Dr. Herbert P. Ramsey
and Theodore Wiprud, society sec.
retary.
ANA Sets Pattern.
The Medical Society's plan is ex-
pected to be in line with the genera
pattern just laid down by the Amer
ican Medical Association, for such
voluntary sickness insurance sys.
TENS. The ANA, in explaining what
is to be expected in such local grou,,
announced yesterday from its Chi
cago headquarters that standard.
would include provision for fret
choice of qualified doctor of medi.
cine and maintenance of personal
confidential relationship between
patient and physician. The ANA
said also that the local group shoulc
be organized and operated ito pro.
vide the greatest possible benefit.
in medical care to the subscriber.
Furthermore, the ANA announced
subsidiary federation known a.
Associated Medical Care Plans
Inc, had been set up to work out
details of the proposed sickness in.
surance program. This body, it wa.
explained, will attempt among Other
things to establish coordination
and reciprocity among the various
plans, to permit transfer of sub.
Scrlbers from one plan to another
and use of benefits in any State ir
which subscriber happens to be
located. Whether the system under
consideration here contains thi.
provision has not been disclosed.
Al Plans Already Used.
Already there are Al voluntary
plans for prepayment medical car,
in operation in "a States, it wa.
reported by the ANA, which addec
that almost every other State medi
cal society is in the process O.
developing plans"
Thousands of Washingtonians al
ready belong tn (,ro,Ip uocrit,l;,o