Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1949-10-28
Writer Tells Off
His Doctor On
Health Insurance
BY NATHAN ROBERTSON

for the kind of propaganda campaign it Is
conducting against the national health insur-
ance plan. But it has not yet caught the criti-
cisms it should from within its own ranks.
The doctors have not learned how badly the
ANA is misrepresenting and misleading him.
They are being taken for ride.
AS evidence want to cite my own per-
sonal physcian-one of the finest men who
ever practiced medicine. I have been in his
care for almost 20 years and have long re-
garded him as the ideal physician-the kind
the books are written about But recently l
got letter from him, and the back of the
envelope was one of the AMAs stickers, say
ing:
"As Your Personal Physician
st oppose compulsory health insurance
because 1t would bring you inferior medical
care at high cost Invade your medical pri-
vacy-Put both of us under political control.
''If you agree please write your U. S, Sena-
tors and Representatives, For more informa-
tion, ask me-"
Millions Of stickers of that kind are prob
ably going out from doctors offices to their
patients, spreading propaganda which is at
best highly questionable, at worst absolutely
false. In an effort to do my part to stop it,
am writing my doctor the following letter.
Dear DR.. -:
II was shocked to receive letter from
you with sticker attached charging that
compulsory health insurance would bring me
inferior medical care at high cost, would in
wade my medical privacy, and would put both
of us under political control
"As am sure you know, DR.. ---,
I have a very high regard for you. Otherwise
l would not write this letter / am writing
because l believe you have been seriously
misled about this legislation which the Amer
ican Medical Association is fighting so strenu-
ousy and so unprofessionally
Your stcker shocked me, first, because
do not expect you in your role of my per-
sonal physician to attempt to propagandize
me on political isses, even one so close to your
heart as this one. 1t shocked me also, because
1t was so patiently false in what it said about
health insurance that l am sure it was pre-
pared by the American Medical Association
and not you.
"You have a right to think what you will
about health insurance as physician. | have
It happens that l have spent good many
months working for this program. I have
studied it and feel that / am in at least as
good position to judge its effect as you, busy
as you are with caring for your patients and
keeping up with the swift advances of medi-
cal science.
Let me take up your three statements
about the program one at a time. First you
say it would bring me inferior medical care at
high cost Why should it? would expect to
continue coming to your office, as l do now,
for the kind of medical care you felt needed.
Why should it become inferior because your
bill was paid by the insurance fund instead
of coming out of my pocket directly? know
you too well to accept your statement that
the kind of medical care you dispense would
be affected by where your money came from.
"As TO the cost do you mean to suggest
you would charge the insurance fund any
more than you do me? I'm sure you don't real
ly mean that. But if you do, you won't get
away with it, because the fees will be fixed
in advance by local committees composed of
both doctors and patients. They probably will
be somewhat lower than present fees on the
assumption that you will do more business
ana thus not need TO charge each patent SO
much.
Next you say the program would invade
my medical privacy Why should it? You
would either get a regular annual fee for
handling me, in which case you would not
need to report anything to the insurance fund;
or you would be paid for each visit, in which
you would merely report that l came for
an office visit, you called me at my
home That's all you would have TO report un-
less there were operations or something more
complicated. AS matter of fact your private
hospitals today keep more detailed medical
case histories on each patient than anything
you would have to submit to the insurance
fund in order TO get your payment So how
would my medical privacy be invaded?
Third, you contend that health insurance
would put both of us under political control
On that point / think l am better able to
judge, as a political writer and student of
politics, than you are. | feel sure you are
wrong. There is nothing in the bill which even
suggests it, Our relationship would be exactly
the same as it is today, except for the method
of payment. Why should there be any political
control? Who would exercise the control?
The whole program would be run by local
committees and all medical questions would
be handled entirely by doctors, The bill as
sures that I'm afraid you've been taken in by
the ANA propaganda without studying the