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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 1957)
Monday, September 23, 1957 MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE SEVEN Growth of Health Insurance Business One Of Fastest, Three Out of Four Now Covered Editor's notr: Follow in? i ihr first in a series of articles on hea'th insurance. By JACK V. FOX United Press Correspondent New York ''IP Do you have some sort of health insurance? Are you reasonably satisfied with it? Do you know what it costs and what it covers? If you had a really rough medical bill, would you be protected? Would you be willing to pay higher premiums if you could get more medical coverage? Would you invest in a policy paying most bills up to 510,000? Do you think doctor visits to the home should be insurable? What abojt regular physical checkups? Do you set aside part of your income for medical expenses? Are the older people in your family insured against sickness' Do you think payments for, say an appendectomy or childbirth, under present plans are ade quate? Those are some of the ques tions that are causing a great deal of controversy today in the insurance business, the medical profession, the government and among the public. 118 Million Covered There are about 118 million of us today with some sort of medical insurance about three out of every four Americans. The growth of health insur ance is one of the most spectac ular developments on the social scene since the war. In 1940, only 3 million Americans had i.uch insurance. Today there are 1,200 companies writing such policies and the competition is fierce. Payments to persons with in surance for hospital, doctor and other medical bills last year amounted to a whopping S3, 600.000,000. Eut it must be re membered that the nation's total medical bill for the year was more than S10 billion. The biggest surge in health insurance recently has been in "catastrophic" or major medical Veieran Convicled On Spying Charge Shreveport, La. HP A decorated Air Force veteran of two wars was convicted at a super secret court martial of trying to sell American atomic secrets to Russia and sentenced to life imprisonment, the Air Force disclosed Saturday. Barksdale Air Force Base said Capt. George H. French, 36, of Mount Vernon, N.Y., was con victed by a seven-man court martial Friday. The disclosure of the trial emphasized that French appar ently "at no time actually made contact with a representative of the Soviet Union." The Air Force said the espion age attempt occurred in Wash ington and New York last April while French was on leave from his post, Ramey Air Force Base in Puerto Rico. An Air Force spokesman said in Washington that French "tried to deliver a letter per sonally to the Soviet Embassy" there the night of April 5. The letter, apparently drop ped or deposited on the Embassy property by French, likely was picked up by an alert counter spy or policeman. All You Need to Remember For The Best Meats in Town Guaranteed To Please You! Shop Safeway and :ave On Smoked, Sugar-Cured ACON Guaranteed by Safeway. A favorite for breakfast MfL-l U.U t iiuic ur iidii rw f3S 8 to 10 lbs. ILk vJjC Per Lb. O round Beef Tender, lean chunks of 100 pure beef ... ground fresh lb MANOR HOUSE Frozen Beef Chicken Turkey Meat Pies 8-oz. pies 27 Tender, Smoked and Boneless Hi to 3 lbs. ea. Coiiaoe Butts 79' Sugar Cured, Standard Layer Pack Siicsd Bacon lb. 69 P-;res in this advertisement are effective through V' dnesday, September 25th at Safeway in Medford. ' "a reserve the right to limit. Every item Safeway sells is guara nteed 100. coverage. It is a type that does not '"pay by the stitch,' but av. ards a lump cash sum to the; policyholder up to a big amount usually not more than S10, 000. It is fairly expensive. There are now about 10 mil lion persons with such insur ance. Many of them have it in addition to '"basic" coverage for less serious illness. Blue Cross Pioneered The Blue Cross and Blue Shield organization pioneered mass medical insurance in the United States, starting with a plan at Baylor university in 1929. By last year, Elue Cross (hos pitalization) and Blue Shield (surgery and doctor) had grown to some 51 million members for the former and 38 million for the latter. There are 85 separate Blue Cross corporations in the United States, Canada and Puer- Halifax, Nova Scotia OP The supreme allied commander of the NATO Forces has arrived in Halifax for a brief visit to the Royal Canadian Navy's At lantic fleet headquarters and the headquarters of the RCAF Maritime Air command. Admiral Jerald Wright will discuss the current maneuvers in the North Atlantic with Commander Rear Admiral Hugh Pullen and Air Commodre Martin Costello. Jet Planes Collide, Pilots Suffer Shock Sacramento IP Two Air Force Shooting Star jets col lided upon landing at McClellan Air Force Base near here Friday night but both pilots escaped death or serious injury. First Lts. William Berry Jr. and Richard Ives, who were ar riving on a flight from Madison, Wis., were suffering from shock and base officials said they may not be able to explain the freak mishap for several days. The pilot jumped out and ran to safety just before the F80s burst into flames after colliding. One plane was completely des troyed, the other suffered only damage to the nose. Cyclones north of the equator soin counterclockwise. South of the equator the twist is clockwise. to Rico. Blue Cross-Blue Shield represents about 41 per cent of all medical insurance written. Blue Cross contracts provide a set daily amount for hospital board and room over a fixed period, plus certain other hospi tal expenses. Blue Shield has a schedule of surgical payments and some other doctors' ex penses performed in hospital. Both plans are now offering broadened versions to cover medical expenses. Coverage Varies Individual insurance compan ies in total recently have sur passed Blue Cross-Blue Shield in volume of business. They now insure 51.7 per cent. Their poliices are of great range, but in general they differ in that the policyholder usually receives a cash award within certain limitations rather than having a predetermined sched ule of what is payable. The third major type insurer is typified by the Health Insur ance Plan of New York whose main distinction is that it is formed by doctors themselves. The policy-holder must accept the services of one of the mem ber doctors. Others of this type. are Group Health Insurance of Washington. Kaiser Permanente &nd the Ross-Loos Clinic in Cal ifornia. The government, of course, provides a type of health insur ance through the Veterans Ad ministration whose services are available to the 21 million vet erans now living. There are also a few labor union insurance as sociations. No Endorsements From AMA The American Medical Asso ciation has not endorsed any plan. It took an opinion sam pling of 8,000 physicians . on health insurance in 1954. The majority gave the opinion that insurance should cover "a sub stantial poriton but less than the full cost" of medical and surgi cal care. The majority also said that most benefit schedules fell be low the normal charges of phy sicians, There are about 180,000 practicing physicians in the United States. A 4955 survey by Medical Economics showed their average net income to be: gen eral practitioners $14,814; spe cialists $18,000. Most observers say the Amer ican system has its strengths, BUSY BAKER CAMPBELL'S Here is the crispiest cracker you ever tasted the extra shortening is what does it. In the convenient stay-fresh packets for extra freshness. Here's a real combination that's always a hit. Rich, creamy Campbell Tomato Soup, served with crispy Busy Baker Soda Crackers. Reg. 29c 1-lb. pkg. Reg. 3 for 35c Foods Look at this savings favorite whole egg Reg. 73c. on America' mayonnaise. Mavonna M Salad Oil Reg. 69c. Another grand Safeway I C value on Nu Made Brand. Creamy, delicate flavored. Nu Made Brand. The finest quality for salad and cooking. It's famous for its neutral flavor. Reg. 54c. Full Quart Full Quart 59" 55' Full Quart i 49' Milk Fresh Bread 3.8 Lucerne, the rich "Bonus Quality" mlik is sold exclusively at Safeway. Regular or Homogenized. Save 2c on each loaf. Mrs. Wright's enriched white or whole wheat. Half Gal. Large Loaf 47' 29' Always Fresh and Crisp Hydrox Cookies UZ 39 Triscuit Brand Wafers 93,i-oz. pkg. 43 Uncle Ben's Brand Quality White Rice 28-oz. pkg. 49c Lipton Tea Delicious Hot or Cold X'43'- Lipton Tea Orange Pekoe Tea Bags 48's Dog Food 350 Dash Brand Pet's Favorite Per Can Chocolate 47 Borden's New Instant Dutch 16-oz. pkg. Shop Safeway for Famous KRAFT Brand Products American Cheese Pasteurized Cheese Spready. Easy to slice pVg!' $li!5 Old English Cheese 2-11 Pkg Sharp Cheddar, sharp full flavor 2-lb. Of Oft Sliced Old English A Tasty Treat with Salads. J 43c Smooth spreading 1-lb. 4 Kraft Parkay Margarine pkg. French Dressing t type dressing. - jar t French Dressing 8-oz. on Kraft Casino. A sweet type French dressing. jar 8-oz. OO French Dressing Mild and Zesty Flavor- 8-oz. ed. Nu Made dressing jar Salad Mustard 25c Mild and zesty flavored. 'S.llB Cream Cheese Philadelphia Pasteurized 233c Save During lc Sale on Wrisley Soap brb" 64 Choc. Chip. Apple Chip, Lemon Flake Cake Mixes Swansdown Perk Brand - For Your Pet Horse Meat Can 25tf Lux Soap Reg. 4) Afld Toilet Soap Pastel colors bars All Vegetable Shortening Spry !e 3-lb. E 99 Pablum Mixed Cereal 1-lb, pkg. All For Your Dishwashers 20-oz. pkg. 43 49 also its weaknesses and inequi ties. But the insurance com panies point out this is a very complicated field. Said one: "While a life insurance pol icy requires a death to start a claim, a hospital-medical policy requires only the policy and few aches and pains." 777 LU i i t i IresVnoet i i t once J) for u y lower lb. V Crisp. Snowy White Heads of Select Caulif Firm, solid heads of the finest "garden-fresh" cauliflower. . Enjoy it with your dinner tonight. California Marsh White Seedless ' Grapefruit 549 Delicious Sun-Ripened Hawaiian Pineapple ea. 39' Jonathan Apples 4 C 49' Lb. 10 Jonathan Apples 4Lb.49 l'r:SL98 Delicious Apples lb, T Extra fancy 1
