A $3 Billion Plan

Unless we do better, two-thirds of all Americans now living will suffer or die from cancer, heart disease or stroke I expect you to do something about it. --President Johnson, April 17

The 18 physicians and ten other public-spirited citizens whom the President thus exhorted when he named them to a special commission reported back to him last week that the U.S. can indeed do something about its greatest killers--but at a price. Under the chairmanship of Houston's famed Surgeon Michael E. DeBakey, the commission unanimously concluded that much needs to be done in several categories.

Pay if Possible. The report began with the stark facts: in 1963 heart-artery diseases caused 55% of all U S deaths, and cancer 16%. Strokes killed 201,000; diseases of other arteries outside the brain combined with diseases of the heart to kill 793,000. Cancer killed 285,000. Many of these deaths were "premature," judged by the fact that they carried off people under 65.

'Every day," said the commission, "men and women are dying who need not die. Every hour, families are being plunged into tragedy that need not happen."

This, said a commission spokesman, is because "medical miracles are in many instances available only to the fortunate few who can get to the unique medical institution or specialist who can perform that miracle." To make miracle care available to all, beyond the areas of the 50 or so medical centers now providing it, the commission proposed a network of:

> High-powered regional "centers"--25 for heart disease, 20 for cancer and 15 for strokes--for intensive care of difficult cases and for research into better methods of care.

> Community "stations" across the nation--150 for heart disease, 200 for cancer and 100 for strokes, half in existing medical centers and half in community hospitals, for immediate diagnosis and emergency care.

At both centers and stations, patients would be expected to pay if they could, either directly or through insurance. In other cases, payment would come from the usual welfare resources. Even so, the federal treasury would have to find $124 million for these networks the first year, and the bill would rise to $453 million a year within five years. This program, the commission insisted, is not socialized medicine but an answer to it.

To the Grass Roots. For the long haul, the commission urged that all the affected community health services be integrated with university medical centers. Special emphasis, it said, must be given to getting the most recent developments and techniques of prevention and treatment to the grass-roots level so that the practitioners may keep up and the people obtain the best care possible. In addition to the $153 million already appropriated for this year, the commission recommended that $56 million be spent on another year of intensified research into the basic causes of the "big three" killers. The commission also asked for $45 million for training technicians and $52 million for added facilities and resources.

Despite the commission's disclaimers about "socialized medicine," the plan was sure to meet stiff opposition on political grounds. And because of the estimated $3 billion price for the plan's first five years, there was immediate criticism of its costliness. But the commission said it was not asking for a bit more than the plan was worth. The annual cost to the U.S. economy from lack of effective treatment for men and women in their productive years, said the commission, runs into the billions of dollars.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.