TRUMAN TO ANNOUNCE FULL HEALTH PLAN

...President Truman is expected to go to Congress once more with a sweeping national issue...

...7. MR...

...2. The President wiy stress that this is not "socialized medicine" (as the monopolistic American Medical Association has been crying in its high-pressure propaganda campaign...

...4. The President will cite the fact that voluntary health insurance plans have been expanding during recent years...

...The President will ask that policy and administration of the system on the local level, as well as nationally, be guided by advisory committees in which the public and the medical professions are represented...

...Thdrd is ah unofficial understanding that CongrciSlohal hearings oh the new hcSlth insurance bill will begin In abbut three weeks td glvd organizations interested in such legislation a charted to...

...Truman will ask that coverage be extended to needy persons through appropriate premiums paid for them by public agencies...

...8. The President will take a position for decentralized and local administration of the nation-wide system...

...People should remain free to choose their own physicians and hospitals, the President will urge, free to obtain and pay for medical service outside the health insurance system if they desire, even though they are members of the system...

...meet and 'determine their owrt attitudes j toward the bill...

...and meanwhile health service would continue to be grossly uneven and disease would continue to disregard State boundary lines...

...In his message the President will prepare the area of debate by declaring* himself in favor of the broadest possible coverage for his health insurance systems...

...For example, voluntary cooperative organizations concerned with paying doctors, hospitals, or .others for health services—but not providing services directly—should be entitled to participate if they can contribute to the efficiency and economy of the system...

...physicians must be allowed to decide for themselves whether they wish to participate in the health insurance system full time, part time, or not at all...

...Also modern hospital,' specialist and laboratory services, as needed, would become available to all, instead of to the more prosperous few, and this would improve the quality and adequacy of medical care...

...Last week a committee which Included AFL President WUHam.Green, CIO Secretary James fe...

...Although everybody must pay taxes for public schools, Mr...

...Truman may point out, parents still remain free to send their children to private schools...

...Since medical bills would be paid under the President's plan by the insurance fund, Mr...

...Truman to carry the fight for national healm*insurance" directly to thd peopld Orie of the bland iirged ons the President was thai, following delivery of his message to Congress;ho should broadcast a fireside chat such as President Roosevelt used to make to th6 people...

...The keystone, under the President's plan, will be the local administrative unit, so as to provide for local services and adaption to local needs and conditions...

...Voluntary organizations which provide health services that meet reasonable standards of quality, should be entitled to furnish services under the insurance system and to be reimbursed for them...

...The President also will say that physicians must be permitted to be represented through organizations of their own choosing, and to decide whether to carry on in individual practice or to join with other doctors in group practice in hospitals or clinics...

...In addition, Mr...

...Of course, hospitals must continue to retain their administrative independence...

...but even so, only about four percent of our population now have insurance providing comprehensive medical care, and the rate of growth of voluntary plans does not justify the belief they will meet more than a fraction of our people's needs...

...And once more in the less-than-four months since his inaugural, the President will take his stand on the side of the people and progress, and will throw down the gage of battle to the reactionary coalition of Dixiegops and the medical trust...

...Government employees, and employees of non-profit institutions and their families...

...Carey, and Machinists International President Harvey Jlrowri, cfcUed si the White' House to urge Mr...

...He will declare it his belief that all persons who work for a living, and their dependents, should be covered under such an insurance plan...

...THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE on Monday, The Washington Bureau of The New Leader is reliably informed, will make the following points: 1. The basic problem of providing ready access for everyone* to all necessary medical, hospital, and related services should be solved by distributing the costs through the expansion of our existing compulsory social insurance system...

...5. His plan, the President will say to Congress, will go a long way toward furnishing insurance against disease itself, as well as against medical bills...

...TRUMAN WILL ARGUE for Federal instead of State action, on the basis that the 4iealth fund should be built up nationally to establish the broadest and most stable basis for spreading the cost of illness, and to assure adequate financial support for doctors and hospitals everywhere...

...It will be in the form of a special message on national health insurance...

...9. On the subject of fees and payments, Mr...

...6. The President will demand that health insurance cover medical, hospital, nursing, laboratory services and dental care...

...Hospitals' also should be free to choose—whether they be private institutions or public institutions---to what extent they wish to participate In the health insurance system...

...THE IMMEDIATE COST of operating a national health insurance plan, the President wil\ estimate, will be 4.5 billion dollars...

...11...

...On the contrary, _the President will point out, the plan he urges is solidly based on the simple "magic of averages," as has been standard practice in the United States for all kinds of insurance.3. Instead of the costs of sickness being paid, as they are today, only by those who get sick, the President will urge that national health insurance enable all who do fall sick to be adequately served without over-burdening anyone...

...PHY8ICIANS SHOULD remain free to accept or reject patients, the President will say...

...This is the precise amount the nation now spends out of iis Private pocket for health arid medical care...

...On the subject of premiums, the President will urge that equal payments be mado jointly by employees and employers on the first $4,800 of earnings in a year, instead of oh the first $3,000 as at present, to qpver all social security benefits, including health insurance...

...and he will specify that this should include wage and salary earhers, those In business for themselves, professional persons, farmers, agricultural labor, domestic employees...

...and that increased Federal funds should be made available by the Congress Under the public assistance programs to reimburse the States in part of such premiums...

...Truman will urge that, subject to national standards, methods and rates of paying doctors and hospitals should be adjusted locally, and that rates should be appropriately adjusted upward for those who are qualified specialists...

...If we were to rely on State-by-State action only, the President will argue, many years would elapse before we had general coverage...

...Jt was urged that the President deliver his fireside chat during this threeweek period, and it is highly probable that he will do so...

...SIMULTANEOUSLY with the presentation of the President's message to Congress, a new health insurance bill will be Introduced which, in its terms and coverage, will go beyond the scope envisaged even in the Wagner-MurrayDingell Bill which has been beforo Congress now for several years...

...Also, the health insurance system will not compel doctors to decide what services their patients need...

...Truman will point out that doctors would more often be consulted when the first signs of disease occur instead of when the disease has become serious . . . thereby controlling serious outbreaks...