READER'S VIEWPOINT

What interests are h;

national health insur

pants to cover the needs of a : percentage,

As compared with corpora-~ tion insurance, they offer eas- ier entry on easier terms, and usually they meet their obli- gations more promptly,

Largest and presumably the most prosperous among them is the Blue Cross, now known as the Ontario Hospital As- sociation. It was set up orig- inally by a group of hospitals as a means of filling beds with Paying patients. For several years, it got along nicely in Contributions of one dollar per month per member. It work- ed so well that the hospitals began to dig deeper ang deep- er into its funds. Up went its rates, and up went hospital rates even more, for all pa- tients whether members or non-members,

Today, with a membership of one and three-quarter mil- lion, it practically blankets the province, and under its’ group plan it still admits almost any- one regardless of age, or phy- sical condition.

(in this letter, A. D. Mc- Dougall, a reader, elaborates his views on national health insurance, which he describes as “an acute national need.’’)

Since the days of Confeder- ation, the people of this coun- try have been pathetically un- protected against the cost of accidents and illness. Decades ago, when doctors concentrat- ed’ on home treatments and when hospitals — such few of them as were available — diq not gouge patients as they are doing now, victims of mishaps and sickness managed: to “get by”, but at an incalculable cost to health and happiness. Somehow, without going into bankruptcy, they did leave a terrible total of unpaid medi- cal and hospital bills.

With the growth in popula- tion and a-steady increase in the cost of living, the situation has become acute.

Today, notwithstanding the many new hospitals built or part building and a vast ex- tension of old ones, the situa- tion is a truly tragic one. Home treatments have been 90 per-

ital But what has happened cent supplanted by er financially? i See er ust i ee hospitals

pies and new equipment of the most expensive kind. Yet no one but a person of ample means can afford hospitaliza- tion.

A poor person is not wanted in a hospital at all; a person of limited resources is likely to be “bled” dry and to incur a load of debt. Thousands of people who should be in a hospital, are either walking around and suffering in si- lence, or dying slowly at home day by day; and many of these are unemployed because of their condition — misery add-

“bled” the Blue Cross forcing it to raise its rates again to the outrageous figure of $4.70 per month for a married couple without dependents so that now many people cannot afford even this kind of pro- tection. In practice, the Blue _Cross, or another hospital as- sociation, is still one of the safest and best of all hospital insurance schemes. But _ its rate raising has created a gol- den opportunity for insurance companies which are really going to town on the public with popular ang promising—

Earn enlaety. very promising — plans of all Into this situation have, step- kinds. ped insurance corporations A national health scheme,

with accident and sickness and hospitalization plans and poli- cies of various kinds, and they are doing a land office busi- ness. A number of cooperative non-profit organizations, in- cluding - Associated Medical Services, and the Blue Cross, were set up to provide hos- pitalization, financed by month- ly fees, collected from all members. These gave, and some, of them are still giving, cheaper and more comprehen- sive protection than insurance corporations ever provided. _/in_ principle, within their

covering the whole population, operating independently of the hospitals and financed by com- © pulsory contributions,. could and probably would protect every one more completely and at less cost per capita than any cooperative or corporation, with a limited clientele, is now doing. It is a national need, and -it would be popular with ninety percent of the public. When originally incorporat- ed as a plank in the CCF plat- form, it found such favor that the. Conservative party stole the. idea; for political advan-

limitations, the cooperatives tage, of course. But what did are a foretaste of state medi- the Liberals do about it? cine — they depend on the Through 22 years of office

contributions of many partici- the Liberals toyed around

olding up ance plan?

with the Proposition, throw- ing out hints, half promises and intimations that sooner or later they would bring forth a National Health In- surance plan, patterned after Unemployment Insurance. Why? All governments, and all members of sovernments; are influenced: by lobbies and the lobbies in turn are fin- anced by interests behind the scenes. Corporate interests in the health and accident in- surance field have put up a tremendous lobb Y against State medicine of any kind. They have put the pressure of their millions of dollars on parliament and the medical profession has done the same thing. :

The Liberals, always “play- ing up” to big money, that a sovernment-sponsoreq scheme of that kind would be. an infrigement on the rights of private ' enterprise, and would be Opening the way for state socialism,

Yet, Canada has already

seen state health insurance in operation. It has been sucess- ful and very popular in Eng- land, although perhaps it plunged a little too deeply at the beginning, it ig working Very well “under a CCR government in Saskatchewan. British Columbia found it fairly satisfactory:. and any faults which developed in Be; hospitalization schemes were largely the result of maladministration and meth- cost of health insurance,

~“ One of the most persistent parliamentary opponents of Na_ tional Health Insurance, was Honorable Brook e Claxton and because of his cabinet status his opposition carried a lot of weight with the rank file of the Liberal party. It was therefore not surprising that when he resigned from the government, he stepped right into a $50,000 a year job as vice-president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, a corporation which has a vital interest in pre- venting anything like state medicine. : " State Health Insurance is bound to come, sooner or later because people demand it. Meanwhile, thousands and thousands of Canadian citi- zens who cannot afford any other kind of health and hos- pital protection live in fear. Thousands -and thousands more incapacitated by illness are losing almost enough time and productivity to cover the cost of Health Insurance,

A. D. McDOUGALL

argued.

On brotherhood

OLD SUBSCRIBER, Vancou- B.C.: Trade unions seem Considerable €mphasis upon brotherhood, It 1S) tof course, a fine ideal whether €xpounded in church or in a trade union meeting.

Nevertheless, What does trade union brotherhood really amount to? Often, sadly en- ough, it amounts to very lit- tle when .one considers the back-biting and the throat- cutting that goes on among trade union brothers,

Of course, working class history is replete with noble and heroic examples of broth- erhood and Solidarity,

I would Say to trade union- ists: the next time you fee] tempted to act in an unbroth- erly fashion toward fellow members, it might be well to re-read the solemn words of the undertaking you entered into when you joined your own particular union. Read it and then live up to it.

Another contradiction is the matter of working class snob- bishness, that is, the upper categories of workers looking down on the lower—however litle removed they may be, as in the case of different cate- gories of laborers.

Let us remember that broth- erhood implies equality.

A good question

PUZZLED, Vancouver, B.C.: The problem facing me as well as 700,000 other Cana-

March 14, 1958 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE

5 de dians is the problem of f# ing work.

I am unemployed. witl my unemployment insura? benefits I can pay for es room and have about two % cent meals a week, space 1) between with very smi snacks, mostly cups of coffe™

In crucial situations such as these the human brain comes a little more active critical, the human body mu® weaker. j 1)

7 I hear our clever ‘leade! speak and they are full % nice promises, the same 5% of things the last ones wel I also see that most of the? are “degreed” men, just ® | management directors as W® as some union leaders hav® honorary university degree® Then I ask myself: “How * it, with all this congregatio® of learned individuals, we an in such a chaotic situation?

The answer may be that certain phases of our educa tion are archaic. That mayb@ they teach a man how 1 balance a tea cup with a platé at the edge of one knee very well, and how to enunciaté his words. They must als? teach how to escape from real ity but not what to do about it,

Mind you, I’m not ‘against truth and knowledge. But are these gentlemen symbols of truth and wisdom? Sometimes, however, I think that honor- ary degrees are being placed on the noble brows of our political idiots by other and greater idiots. :

Sai