TRENDS
B JOHN P. HUBBARD, M.D., Contributing Editor
Statements appearing in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editor nor are they
/0 be interpreted as the official opinion of the Acadeny.
HEALTH
SURVEY
PROPOSED*
AST week President Truman announced the creation of a Commission on the Health
Needs of the Nation that he said would “make a searching inquiry into the facts
and give us the benefit of objective and constructive thinking on these problems which
are of vital concern to every American.”
This newspaper in editorial comment last Sunday welcomed the President’s move,
saying that the new commission ‘‘should be a forward step toward breaking the deadlock
that has existed on constructive action for a positive health program. “ The editorial
added:
“The ability, stature and reputation of the new commission, which is to be headed
by Dr. Paul B. Magnuson, insure the professional knowledge and maturity of judgment
that will be needed to make workable recommendations for solving these problems. It
is a commission in which both the public and the health professions can have confidence.”
The day the commission membership was announced, however, one appointee, Dr.
Gunnar Gundersen, La Crosse, Wis., a member of the board of trustees of the American
Medical Association asked that his name be removed from its membership. He said,
‘‘I believe I am correct in assuming that the commission is designed, both in its majority
membership and its objectives, as an instrument of practical politics to relieve President
Truman of an embarrassing position as an unsuccessful advocate of compulsory health
insurance.”
The following day, Dr. John W. Cline, President of the American Medical Association,
termed the commission “another flagrant proposal to play politics with the medical
welfare of the American people.”
CoMMISSIoN HEAD PRAISED
A review of the membership of the commission and of its frame of reference make
Dr. Gundersen’s and Dr. Cline’s accusations difficult to understand. Its chairman, Dr.
Magnuson, is noted among medical circles as a critic of bureaucracy, a foe of red tape,
and an outspoken opponent of compulsory health insurance.
Nor does the membership of the commission give credence to Dr. Gundersen’s and
Dr. Cline’s assertions. It includes:
Chester I. Barnard, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, New York.
Dean A. Clark, M.D., general director of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
Evarts A. Graham, M.D., surgeon, St. Louis.
Joseph C. Hinsey, Ph.D., dean of the Cornell University Medical College, New York.
* From “Fight on Truman Health Unit as Political Held Unjustified,” by Howard A. Rusk,
M.D., The New York Times, Jan. 6, 1952. Reprinted in full with the permission of the publisher.
250 JOHN P. HUBBARD
A.
J.
Hayes, president of the International Association of Machinists, Washington.Charles S. Johnson, president of Fisk University, Nashville.
Russel V. Lee, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Stanford University
School of Medicine, Palo Alto.
Elizabeth S. Magee, geneal secretary of the National Consumers League, Cleveland.
Clarence Poe, president and editor of The Progressive Farmer, Raleigh, NC.
Lowell
J.
Reed, Ph.D., vice president of the Johns Hopkins University and Hospital,Baltimore.
Walter P. Reuther, president of the United Automobile Workers, C.I.O., Detroit.
Marion W. Sheahan, R.N., director of the National Committee for the Improvement of
Nursing Services, New York.
Ernest G. Sloman, D.D.S., president-elect of the American Association of Dental Schools,
San Francisco.
In announcing the new commission, President Truman did not refer to his past
pro-posals for Federal health insurance directly, but said: “On a number of occasions I
have stated that I would be happy to consider constructive suggestions which were better
than the proposals I have endorsed to bring the continuing achievements of medical
progress to all of our people. They have not been forthcoming.”
UNANSWERED PROBLEMS LISTED
He termed the many vital problems that remain “unanswered” as:
1. Insuring an adequate supply of doctors, nurses and allied personnel.
2. Developing local public health units.
3. Making more hospitals, and hospital beds available where needed.
4. Stepping up the tempo of fundamental medical research.
5. Meeting the needs of the chronically ill and aged.
6. Providing adequate diagnostic, rehabilitative and other medical services to all
income groups regardless of financial ability.
As to the commission’s being a program of “political propaganda’ ‘ as the A.M.A.
officials have charged, it is significant that, although it will give interim reports, the
commission has 12 months to complete its studies. Thus, its terminal date is well after
the 1952 elections.
Certainly no one can disagree with Dr. Cline’s statement that the “health of the
American people has never been better. ‘ ‘ One of the greatest achievements of this nation
during the past half-century has been in the general improvement of the health of our
people. From an average lifetime of 49.2 years in 1900, our life expectancy has risen
by more than one-third to nearly 68 years.
This hardly seems in conflict with the President’s statement that “We still have a
long way to go, however, before we can hope to provide for the health needs of our
people on both an immediate and long-time basis.”
TRENDS
251
of mental illness and one out of every 10 persons will need psychiatric care at some
time in his life.
3. About 20,000,000 people now alive will die of cancer unless new treatments and
cures are found.
4. This year approximately 775,000 persons will die of diseases of the heart and
circulation.
5, Two persons out of three in the United States need financial help to meet the costs
of serious illness.
These are but a few of the many unsolved problems. Currently blocking the way to
their possible solution are many other problems. For example:
1. Sickness absenteeism costs the nation the full time of 2,000,000 workers each year
2. The nation’s medical schools are faced with a serious financial crisis. Their deficits
in 1948 totaled $10,000,000 and are running higher today.
3. Nearly 50,000 nurses over and above those now in sight will be required by 1954
to meet both civilian and defense needs.
4. Nearly 30 per cent of our citizens live in communities in which there are no
full-time local public health services.
It is obvious that today we do not have the solution to many of these problems. It
seems reasonable to assume, however, that a high caliber commission of this type,
repre-senting both the producers and consumers of medical services, should have much to
offer to the benefit of both patients and physicians. It would be tragic indeed if full
