The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-05-11
Health Insurance
Need Shown By
Magazine Article

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Washington (LPA)-How cancer
struck one American family and
NEARLY cost them the home they'd
built with their own hands, and
how they finally had to fall back
on charity of neighbors and the
state, is told in the current "How
America Lives" in the Ladies Home
Journal.
Merrill Phillips, a plumber-elec-
trician in Walton, Ind, earned sec
a week. On this he and his wife
Virginia, had managed to build
their own home. Less than a year
after they had moved in, along
with five-year-old Mickey, disaster
lstruck.
Virginia noticed a lump on her
breast. Was it cancer? For weeks
she lay awake at night, worrying.
The family had disqualification in
surance, at $7.20 a month, but it
didn't cover all medical expenses
And they had no family doctor to
whom she could go. An accident
brought things to a head. An oil
tank fell on Merrill, breaking both
collarbones. He was put in cast
from neck to waist.
MerrilPs employer carried insur-
ance, so there was no trouble about
medical expenses. But their income
fell from $50 to $50 week-with
the insurance company paying $23
and the boss paying the rest. The
couple consulted the doctor attend
ing Merrill about Virginia's breast
tumor. He didn't think it was can
Ger but wanted to operate. At the
same time, he urged removal of a
mole on Merrill's head.
Then their son developed a syst
on the back of his knee, making it
painful for him to walk, and requir-
ing the attention of bone special
list. The disqualification insurance
policy didn't cover this, either. Re-
luctantly, the Phillipses decided
Mickey would have to wait his
turn.
Then two more blows fell. Mer-
rill's employer had to cut costs,
and ahe was out of a job. Finding
a new one in a small town like
Walton is hard, especially for a
man just recovering from two
broken collarbones. He started
drawing unemployment compensa-
tion-$23 a week. The couple fig
ured they had enough savings
$93-to carry them for two months.
But now the doctor decided Merrill
had to have the mole removed-as
a charity patient. 1t proved to be
cancerous. Merrill had to have x
ray treatments. The insurance
policy didn't cover X-ray. Merrill
refused the treatments.
Terrified and driven almost des-
|perate by financial worries, the
Phillipses were finally saved by
the charity of neighbors-in the
Legion post in Walton-who final
ly got him into a veterans hospital
125 miles from home. Here he re-
ceived expert attention. The writer
of the Ladies Home Journal article
went to the offices if the Indiana
Cancer Society, 80 miles from their
home, and obtained charity treat
ment for Virginia and Mickey. Both
were operated on successfully.
"This American tragedy" says
DR.. Charming rockingham of the
Committee for the Nations Health,
could happen to any family. 1t is
an argument for national health
insurance. comprehensive system
of prepaid medicine which will free
Americans from the fear of econ
omic ruin, from the humiliation of
charity"
What would passage by Congress
of a national health insurance bill
have meant to the Phillipses? DR..
rockingham says that "for $500
month-1H per cent of MerrilPs
salary-the Phillipses would have
had comprehensive care. For all
three there would have been mol
worry about the costs of diagnosis,
surgery, and follow-up treatment,
including home visits by the doctor
of their choice.
without national health insur-
ance, they paid $720 for incom-
plete protection. The benefits just
were not there when they needed
them most. Every day that the
medical lobby blocks national
health insurance and disability in-'