Evening star., 1954-01-19
The President on Health

President Eisenhower has placed before
Congress relatively modest starting program
for improving the Nations health. But modest
as it iS-in the sense that its recommendations
are not SO ambitious as those contained in the
impressive Magnuson report of 1952-itis none
theless program that promises to accomplish
a lot of good And it has the added virtue,
from the standpoint of practical politics, of
being conservative enough to be safe from
serious attack by either the economy minded
or the foes of "socialized medicine"
To begin with the President has based his
recommendations on the demonstrable fact
that the United States. although it has made
striking progress in warning against disease
and increasing average life expectancy, is not
yet doing nearly as much as 1t can and should
do to become stronger, richer and happier by
bettering its physical and mental health. There
are still far too many unnecessary, preventable
American deaths every year, and the Nation
continues to pay tremendous annual eco
nomic penalty in the form of lost production
and lost wages resulting from sickness and
Interpretation that could be sharply reduced
by intelligent concerted action on the part Of
the Federal Government, the States, the cities
and all the private and public institutions
concerned.
Such action, as the President has said, is
needed to deal primarily with the fact that
1.-TWO of the key problems in the field of health
today are the distribution of medical facilities
and the costs of medical care" The facilities,
together with the professional personnel to
man them, are far from being adequate enough
to meet present requirements especially in
poorer communities and rural areas. AS for
personal expense, since nearly SO per cent OF
our homes receive $4,000 or less in annual in
come, great numbers among us simply cannot
afford to be hoSpitalized for long or to pay out
much to doctors or dentists. Indeed in the
Presidents words, Major, long-term illness
can become financial catastrophe for nor
NAL American family"
It is because Of these and similar consid-
erations that the President has recommended,
among other things ID continued Federal
aid plus matching State, city and private
funds, for hospital construction, but with
new emphasis on building relatively non-costly
special-purpose facilities to deal with nom
acute illnesses and ambulatory cases; ca addi-
tional Joint expenditures and cooperative ac-
ton to speed up the rehabilitation year by
year, Of the Nations million disabled citi-
zens-a Speedup that would rehabiltate at an
annual rate of 100000 by 1859, as against the
present rate of 10000; and CD establishment
of Federal Reinsurance service, with capi-
tai fund of $25 million, to encourage private
and non profit health-insurance organizations
to take the extra financial risks involved in
offering broader protection to more families.
In asking for prompt and favorable action
on this program, the President has been at
pains to emphasize that his recommendations
are designed to rule out "socialiZation." And
they certainly seem to do that by making the
whole enterprise basically voluntary in char
acter and by keeping major control in State,
local and private hands. AS to costs, he has
been specific only on his reinsurance proposal,
but the general tenor Of his message plainly
indicates that he emissions outlays consider
ably smaller than those suggested in the Mag
nuson report. In any case, Congress should
respond affirmatively to his request, bearing
in mind, as he has said, that "The health of
our people is the very essence of our vitality,
our strength and our progress as Nation"