Evening star., 1949-02-20
Doctors Urged to Fight
'SociuIized Medicine

Voluntary Insurance Held Better Solu.
ton for Physicians and Patients
By Frank r. Kent
In that few human beings 60 from cradle
to grave" without somewhere along the line
needing the help of doctors Ito say nothing
Of nurses and hospitals), the Admininis-
trations compulsory health insurance pro-
posal ought to be deep concern to every.
body. For 1t Is certain to affect the lives Of
everybody.
Reasons for the bitterness which the
measure has engendered are, first the effort
to jam 1t through by the sheer weight of the
favoring forces; second, though the subject
OF the Nations health is the last that should
be tainted with politics, the political sat-
uration Is too clear to miss. Back Of the bill
are the President. the labor bosses. the left
wing liberals and q solid phalanx Of com.
mentators and columnistS Of the "bleeding-
heart" variety. Against it are the great bulk
OF the doctors of the country and many
thousands Of laymen who regard this
measure with adherence as big step toward
the socialization of medicine.
This fight for Federal control Of medicine
is not new. A similar bill failed in the last
Congress The reason the current proposal
seems more formidable Is that 1t was one Of
promises. Supporters Of the measure con-
tend that every person Is entitled to adequate
medical treatment at moderate cost; that
those who cannot afford to pay have as much
right to this as those who can; that there
are too few doctors, nurses and hospitals;
that many persons are unable to get medical
attention at all and that thousands annually
die as result. They also allege that the
American Medical Association Is monopolistic
or,I ov,1xy E1aI Anko n%Fn
lively deal with bad situation. Opponents
of the bill declare it false to picture the stu.
alton as terrible. silly to say the ANA Is
monopolistic and absurd to believe more
doctors and nurses can be created by the kind
of legislation proposed.
*aAa
Both friends and foes of socialized medi-
cine agree that medical costs are a problem
to the average family They also agree that
insurance is the best way out for most Of us.
But they split widely on the question Of
whether the Federal Government should
make you buy health insurance or permit you
to take it out of your own free will. The
choice is between the compulsory and volun-
tary methods. Voluntary health insurance
has now grown to q point where more than
40, 900 900 carry hospital Insurance.; 17,000.-
900 have it for surgery and more than
100000 for other medical benefits. The
popular Blue Cross plans sponsored by
voluntary hospitals, have 30. 900 900 members.
Blue Shield medical care plans sponsored by
medical societies. have 100000.
The ANA has presented an alternative
health program based on the voluntary sys-
tenn. but providing for the creation Of a
Federal department of health, with Federal
aid and direction of public health activities
of different kinds. Also, Senator Taft has o
health bill Of his own to avoid compulsory
Federal insurance. Yet, Notwithstanding
these alternatives and the extraordinary ex-
pansion of voluntary insurance plans, the
administration insists on compulsory insur-
ance with Federal control.
Points which the doctors make against
this include these: That far from improving
the national health it would materially lower
the quality Of medical care; that 1t would
rob patients of their free choice of doctors
and impair the relationship between doctor
and patient; that it would mean control OF
medicine by an enormous Federal bureauc-
racy, with q staggering burden Of cost to
taxpayers and wage earners; that the con.
tinued progress made by voluntary insurance
plans ultimately will solve the problem; that
the administration bill is not fair, adequate.
practical or financially sound; that the
scheme is modelled on the frankly socialiStic
British system, which is as unsatisfactory to
the patients as to the doctors: that under this
bill the doctors would be hampered by gov
ernmental red tape and have 50 much paper
work to do that they would, in effect, become
enslaved clerks; that the bill promises far
more than can possibly be delivered that it
would discourage research, kill Initiative.
abolish competition and lower the level Of the
whole medical profession.
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One thing is certain-an overwhelming
ity of fha
misingly opposed the working conditions and
wage scale in the bill debated to q deadlock
in the last Congress and an overwhelming
majority is opposed to the present Murray
WagnerPepper measure. 1T Is" one doctor
declared, full Of vague generalities. heavy
and obscure legal lingo, double talk and cross
references" Another refers to its cost as the
allotment Of an unknown sum for an unpre-
dictable purpose" A third describes it as AN
attempt to mate the impossible with the
unwanted."
Administration politicians are keen for
their bill on the ground that it is great
vote-getter. Certainly it opens up new field
for the demagogues. There is terrific appeal
to the unthinking in the idea that everybody
can get a doctor, a hospital bed and a nurse
when he wants them-all free. That Is the
way the politicians will sell it. which makes
it hard for timid Congressman to vote no.
White House Strategists profess confidence 1t
will pass. but there is one good reason for
doubt. The doctors all over the country are
more stirred than ever before.
Moreover, they are doing something about
it, Confronted with the choice Of passively
permitting what they believe to be deg
radiation of their profession and an injury
to the people, or fighting, they have decided
to fight If all the doctors opposed to social
lied medicine do all they can. the bill will
be beaten. despite the politicians. 1t is q
question of how hard and how skillfully they
fight.
ment. She organized the first Congress OF
Mothers with the help of Mrs. Hearst in