Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 8, 1952, Winnipeg, Manitoba Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights Winnipeg free press printed Ana published Winnipeg free press company limited. 300 Carllon Street Winnipeg. Manitoba. Authorized u second dais matter by Post Otyce department. Victor Sefton r. S. Malone president it publisher vice president grand Dexter Winnipeg monday december 8, 1952 Cost of health insurance in proposing an immediate scheme of National health insurance the . Does not deny that it would involve heavy new taxes on the Canadian people would in fact make impossible any net reduction in total taxes in the visible future and probably would increase that total substantially even if the pre sent costs of government were reduced. But the . Argues that there would be no real increase in the living costs of the Ordinary family. For according to the ., the people Al Eady Are paying the full Cost of medical service through Pri vate channels and with health insurance would merely pay the same amount through the state in a More equitable fashion. This reasoning As will be shown Here in greater detail at the appropriate time is fallacious. The fact is that with the establishment of a National health insurance scheme the total Cost of medical treatment will greatly increase however it is distributed. Even a casual examination of this problem will reveal sufficient evidence to destroy the Basic thesis of the . In the first place assuming for the moment that there would be no increase in total Cost of Medicine under health insurance clearly an unsound Assumption there would be a Large increase in the Cost of administering Medicine when the government becomes the intermediary Between the individual and the medical system the government must set up a vast apparatus of administration to collect premiums from the insured and to pay the Money out to the doctors and the hospitals governments of course cannot handle such funds with out making sure that they Are spent in rigid accordance with the terms of the governing statutes of parliament and the provincial Legislatures. Health insurance would involve Cumber some checking procedures at both the Federal and provincial Levels. These costs judging by the experience of other nations could hardly be less than 10 or 15 per cent of the total sums being collected and disbursed. The government s detailed stud ies. Conducted Over a period of several indicate that. Some millions a year would pass through the insurance scheme. At least s50 millions and perhaps st5 millions would be spent on Mere overhead on the paper work of administration. And that would of itself be a Large net increase in the total Cost of medical service. However the Assumption that the actual work of treating the apart from the overhead of would not increase is disproved by All experience with such schemes throughout the world. There is no mystery about this for once apparently free but in fact expensive medical service is offered to everybody the demands for it will instantly increase some of those demands being legitimate some quite unnecessary. No actuary can forecast the extent of this extra demand. But the experience of Britain offers a rough measurement. When the British parliament was considering the Over All state health scheme in 1946 it was estimated officially that its total Cost would reach millions a year. Today the Cost is millions. While part of this Gigantic increase is due to the increased costs of operating hospitals and other facilities in a period of inflation most of it undoubtedly is due to an increase in the demand for medical treatment far in excess of the actuaries estimates. Again in a somewhat similar though restricted scheme clo ser to Home the Hospital insurance scheme of the British Columbia government costs have so far exceeded All expectations that the government is finding the affairs of the hospitals Al most unmanageable. A few Days ago it issued an order com Pelling the hospitals to hold their 1953 budgets at the 1952 level despite their rising expenditures and apparently if the Hospi tals cannot obey this injunction they must somehow finance their deficits themselves or turn in desperation to the municipalities. In any Case the figures show How costs go up when the state underwrites them. In 1947 the operating costs of British Columbia hospitals stood at s13.1 millions. In 1952 they had reached s29 millions according to the latest incomplete Esti mate. Even allowing for an increase in population and also for an increase in the Cost of Hospital operation resulting from a higher general level of prices it is obvious that so called free service has encouraged a much larger and More costly use of hospitals. One figure is especially revealing in 1948 the average daily Cost of treating a patient in a British Columbia Hospital was while today it is the former figure. Includes an allowance of 25 per cent for bad debts while bad debts Are now reckoned at Only 7 per cent of the present Cost. Even allowing for the improvement of the hospitals debt Posi Tion their costs have risen alarmingly. Moreover while the insurance scheme was originally expected to pay for itself out of the people s premiums the government is now contributing about s6 millions a year to it out of general Revenue. It is unreasonable to expect that a Canadian policy of health insurance would do better than the British or such provincial policies As Are in operation in Canada. Undoubtedly the experience of Britain and say of British Columbia would be repeated. There would be a Large increase in total medical costs however they might be disguised by Grants from the National and provincial treasuries Grants which would have to be paid by the taxpayers. And another problem still More obvious immediately pre sents itself. In Canada the amount of Hospital accommodation like the number of doctors nurses and other technicians Able to administer medical services is limited. To propose any National policy in Advance of a vast and very costly enlargement of personnel and accommodation would be wrong. The Only pos sible consequence of doing so would be the deterioration of our medical services. Of lesser importance perhaps but still to be considered is the risk As the experience of Britain has shown that medical facilities would be diverted from Preven Tive Medicine the real Hope of medical science into purely curative types of work. When All these facts Are considered even casually it is apparent that the . Would be on honest ground Only if it admitted at the outset that its policy would involve very heavy extra costs to the Canadian family. But no such admission is made. Instead the . Is trying to sell National health insurance to the Public under pretences which Are demonstrably 51 votes. Far from being a defeat for the Adenauer government the results give it More Confidence than it has had for some time that both issues will be ratified by the German parliament. Why then did or. Adenauer suddenly and without warning confuse the situation by consenting to postpone the third and final Reading until Early next year in part the answer May be found in the delicately poised balance of political forces in West Germany. The debate in the upper House in any event was scheduled Lor next Janu Ary and it was not upsetting the parliamentary time table very much to agree that the Jower House would also defer its final decision until then. Since this request was advanced by several members of the opposition or. Adenauer gave the appearance of being conciliatory without weakening his own position by accepting this Brief delay. Part of the answer is also to be found in the constitutional As distinct from the political situation. The constitutional court at Karlsruhe has been asked to pass judgment on whether a two thirds majority is required before the German parliament can agree to have German contingents in the eur Opean army. There have been numerous delays in securing a court verdict. No one except the opposition which has been pressing for a decision has been really anxious to have the courts pronounce judgment on a matter of this kind. The unexpected announcement which or. Adenauer made during the second Day of debate at Bonn May mean that the court will be Able to hand Down a verdict before parliament resumes its discussion though he has in no binding commitment on this Point. In any event the Adenauer government after this initial test of strength is much Stron Ger than it has been at any time within the past six months and it can await developments without too much anxiety unless the court should Rule that the plan for a German army requires a two thirds majority in parliament. Churchill s policy great Britain s present de Fence programme was begun by the labor government in 1950. It was to be accomplished in three years. Last March or. Churchill told the House of commons that the programme would have to be extended Over a fourth year. Now he has announced that the objectives May not be reached until some time after june 1955 inst each of at the end of 1953 As was originally planned. This is no default by Bri Tain on her obligations to a to As assumed at the Lisbon conference this Spring. Or. Eden warned that conference that some adjustments would have to be made if Britain did not solve her economic problems. As or. Churchill said in Mak i gave him my list and k fruit b. H. Hambley was a time Home a Good Deal More than Manitoba was known do now. A land of cold forbidding wastes and everyone was some years ago one of the Morden i think John such a thing As used to visit Homes All would be entirely out of Southern Manitoba not so Here. It has to sell Trees As to get hard work to to grow them. His catalogues and pictures of Trees very erroneous entrancing. Another w a s Manitoba. But to visit late col. Wallace of Portage farm at Prairie. He certainly had the is to Call on l or. Skinner thumb and also a Way of and see for oneself the remarkable growth of people to try a few Trees. Southern Manitoba will this year of apples and plums is to have a forget the elder Stevenson and his remarkable Success with fruit Trees on his farm near there Are people can we grow fruit year superintendent put the amazed interest of the Morden expert who crowd into the farm took some very in farms to see pictures in Engram loaded Down with fruit Scotland. He has returnee kinds is quite new ideas for improving summer there was a the growing of fruit Trees crop of fruit and province. Stream of those you talk with any o to sep what could be old men who Carm cartoon by Herboek no Taft choices the Eisenhower Cabinet to Washington As the new Vav Eisenhower administration swiftly takes shape the Gener Al looks less and less like the captive president of demo by m. W. To Cabinet and near Cabinet rank Only one or. Benson the new Secretary of Agricula Ratic Campaign oratory. What Ture is a Taft nominee. The Ever was the so latest important appointment is called surrender on morning Side it now appears reassuringly Clear that senator Taft did not emerge with Power of veto Over Cabinet appoint ments. Another Label once attached to general Eisenhower has been quietly Pigeon holed in the past fortnight. Far from behaving like a political Hope Lessly lost when projected into the maelstrom of appalling responsibilities and conflicting pressures whose vortex is the that of former senator Lodge As the . Permanent Delegate to the United nations. Or. Lodge of course is a Long time critic of senator Taft. Yet the senator has publicly stated that he submitted recommendations for the entire list. Rotary for defence was presi Dent of an automotive firm which figured As one of the three Republican generals of democratic propaganda. It has been widely asserted that this influence was an important fac Tor behind the Michigan shift to the general s candidacy. Mrs. Oveta gulp Hobby who As director of the Federal secur Ity administration will have a Cess to the Cabinet was a Tex As Democrat for Eisenhower. It is of interest that she also made a handsome financial contrib this line. It is True that the average Farmer has not yet realized How pleasant and Valu Able fruit growing can be. Fruit juice indeed in a rather curious j to the cause of democratic comment or. Taft has explained that he does not even claim or. Benson apparently for the reason that the Utah newcomer was also the general s personal Choice. However or. Benson did favor the Taft nomination and i. Humphrey whose a presidency the general has in tent As Secretary of the ing his announcement of the been acting with Confidence and trea has been welcomed by slow Down we made it Clear i purpose. His first moves at the Lisbon meeting of the to abolished a relationship with the senator in company with Many who were certainly Atlantic Council that our ability outgoing administration which j never identified with the Taft is recognized by republicans j action _ is an Ohio Industrial and democrats alike As respond i is credited Wuh faithful if re Bonn s decision the meaning of the debate in the West German parliament is in danger of being misunderstood. Two issues were before the bundestag or lower House for decision. The first was the peace contract ending the state of War with West Germany the other was the project for bring ing German contingents into the european army. The bundestag endorsed the peace con tract on second Reading by a majority of 54 votes and the european army by a majority to carry out our programme in full and to make our contribution to the forces of the North Atlantic treaty organization depended on solving our financial and economic prob lems and especially the balance of payments the reduction in this year s expenditures amounts to about 17 per cent of the original Fig ure. It should be noted that or. Churchill resisted labor de mands to reduce the number of in the armed forces and to shorten the period of ser vice. He is determined to main Tain Britain s defensive strength at As High a Point As her economic Power will permit. Nor should the present reduction be interpreted As a sign that great Britain is weaken ing in her loyalty to nato. In this very speech or. Chur chill again affirmed his Confidence in nato As the supreme defence of the free world. He also expressed his Faith that Britain would win through her economic difficulties and would substantially fulfil the obligations she had undertaken at the Lisbon meeting. No doubt the levanites will be strengthened in their quarrel with or. Attlee by this development. But there Are issues Here More important to the world than the internal Divis ions of the labor party. It is apparent that Britain s position in spite of encouraging pro Gress in recent months is still far from satisfactory. Other Wise or. Churchill would never have Felt compelled to make this announcement. It is in the disturbing Light that it casts upon Britain s financial strength rather than in its defence implications that the significance of the present announce ment really consists. From the Golden books from Hope and fear by Algernon Charles Swinburne then when the soul leaves of to dream and yearn May truth first purge her Eye sight to discern what once being known leaves time no Power to Appal till youth at last Ere yet youth be not learn the kind Wise word that Falls from years that Hope not thou much and fear thou not at senator Benton Arch foe of sen Ator Mccarthy. The position of or. Harold Stassen who succeeds or. Averell Harriman As head of the particularly strawberries and raspberries Are known to be native to Manitoba. The pioneers told of the wheels of the wagons dripping with the juice of strawberries. We have actually seen the red fruit juice staining the horses hooves in the break ing of the Virgin Sod. And where wild fruit can grow certainly cultivation can do better. We owe much to the persist ent efforts of our pioneers in horticulture As they have introduced and developed Trees More suited to the climate. Talk with or. Leslie of the Morden experimental farm or visit the Stevenson farm or the Orchard farm along the East Side of the Pembina Hills yes and As far North As drop More which is some 250 Miles North of the International Boundary and you will be convinced that these men have done and Are doing a magnificent Job. Fruit growing is past the experimental stage. It is now up to the. Farmers. Even a few fruit their Early youth from ont Ario or were born Here in the red River Valley a topic that will always draw fire is hat of our Rural depopulation. Fifty years ago they will All Ell you there were More peo ple in the farms than there Are Oday. This was reflected in the numbers in the churches and the schools in the Rural areas. And the Drift of people moving from the farm to the Village or the City still is going on. New techniques one of the reasons is that some Farmers still think of their farms in terms of a living rather than As a life. Possibly a More Active interest in Horti culture that is in Trees Flowers Etc. Added to the interest in wheat growing would Givs Farmers More enjoyment thus holding them on the farm where new techniques new machines especially the wonder of electricity running water Etc., can make the farm Home As at Tractive As any City dwelling. If you want to find a Happy Man look for one who can proudly hand you Home grown fruit from his own Trees. He can show you the Orchard and the of Trees with a minimum of care experiments with new types can help a Good Deal to make a plants. He has something that will go on producing value and Beauty alter he has passed on farm into a Home. Taking an in Terest in and growing fruit Mutual Security Agency is per Trees that Are both profitable the farm to other and younger sible yet prudent. Mark ably silent service in the the More recent decisions state Organ Patjon which the which cleared the decks for his j senator fats Ong dominated. Korean trip were taken with a Speed which surprised the coun try yet no one has suggested that his appointments were snap judgments. They seem rather to o a the other hand Many of the appointees played a conspicuous role in the de of senator Taft. Governor reflect careful observation and j Sherman Adams was one of mature consideration. Reasonably Clear whatever its future relations with senator May be it is reasonably Clear that this is not a Taft administration. While the men and women around general Eisenhower Are expected to adopt a moderately conservative course in Home affairs most of them Are known As internationalists. The so called Liberal republicans Are pow the general s backers and his floor manager at Chicago. Or. Herbert Brownell the new at Torney general was the closest associate of governor Dewey in two bitter struggles with the Ohio senator. His new assist ant or. William t. Was an Eisenhower strategist. Governor Douglas Mckay Secretary of the Interior was Active on the general s behalf in the Oregon primary. Mrs. Priest who has been named treasurer of the United haps Best summarized in his remark while still a Candi Date that general Eisenhower was too much of a conservative to offer the liberals the required contrast to or. Taft. In Gen eral he is not too popular with republicans but As the new York times observes what Ever else May be said of him he can never be charged with affiliating with the isolationist Wing of his and Beautiful can make us enjoy hands. And Aid Canada s foreign policy from the foreword by Hon. Lester b. Pearson to Canada and the United nations published by the department of external affairs the United nations is neither a military Alliance against communism nor an pm there remains or. John Fos bry0mc form of world govern erf ully represented their col j states was an Eisenhower Par leagues Are described As mid j Titan before Chicago. So even More actively was Arthur Van Denberg Secretary to the president. Postmaster general sum Merrield intervened at. A decisive moment to swing Michigan to the Eisenhower Standard. Or. Wilson who becomes Sec die of the readers and while one or two May commend them selves strongly to senator Taft not one has been conspicuously identified with his political cause. Of the first 13 appointments the visit to Korea i t is too Early yet to assess the significance of general Eisenhower s visit to Korea. That must await a More de tailed statement by the Gen eral and the outline of Defin Ite policies. Two interim com ments however should be made. First general Eisenhower de serves to be commended for the quickness with which he has redeemed his pledge to visit the korean Battle front. His Promise to do so no doubt won him Many votes in the Campaign. He might with some Justice have pleaded that the task of selecting his Cabinet and preparing for the prob lems of the presidency precluded him from making an immediate trip to the far East. He spurned All such excuses. As an example of integ Rity his fulfilment of the elec Tion pledge is praiseworthy. Secondly it May be doubted whether the his trip is As confident As be was during the Campaign that the South koreans can be left to Ca Rry the Burden of the fight ing by themselves. He Learned while in Korea that it would take another two years to train and equip 20 South kor Ean divisions with the Neces sary reinforcements. At pres ent there Are 12 korean Divis ions. Besides to leave the kor eans to do All the fighting while the rest at the United nations supplied them with guns and equipment would be a strange and shabby version of collective Security. General Eisenhower is now saying very much the same thing about the korean War As president Truman has been saying for Many months. Per haps he will come Forward with a new policy time alone can Tell. Or perhaps it will just be another1 Case of things look ing different when one is in office charged. With responsibility and Iii Lull Possession off the facts. Ter Dulles Secretary of state. His election role of conciliator Between the warring Republican groups doubtless makes him acceptable to senator Taft but this can hardly obliterate his Long record As an Active participant in bipartisan policies Many of which failed to com mend themselves to Republic ans of the Taft persuasion. Significance of role but the liberals around the president elect Are not Only impressive numerically. They hold Many key positions and in this connection special significance attaches to the role of governor Sherman Adams As presidential assistant. It has been clearly indicated that or. Adams is to enjoy an authority never possessed by his predecessors since or. Byrnes was special assistant to Roosevelt. The Truman incumbent or. Steelman has been commonly described As a in the sense that he has been employed from time to time in particular negotiations. But or. Adams is to play the role of a White House Al or chief of co Ordin rating the work of such import ant agencies As the Bureau of the budget the National secur Ity Council the National Security resources Board the of economic advisers and a half dozen others. It appears evident that Gen eral Eisenhower intends to move along lines indicated by the Hoover commission on org Jill nation of the executive Bra Rich. The Hope is that by assuming the Liaison functions indicated and by accepting responsibilities which would approximate to those of a. Chief of staff or. Adams will be Able to ensure the incoming president greater scope and Freedom Lor top level policy making. Ment. Essentially the charter of the United nations is a multilateral treaty which has been ratified by the great majority of Sovereign states. It is a treaty with enormous scope and has led to the establishment of machinery for nearly every form of International political social economic cultural and humanitarian co operation. Yet it is a treaty which is meant specifically to Pally Canada is one of that they must give priority to defence measures for their own survival. That this must come first is not in fact seriously questioned by anyone. The differ Ference of opinion is Over the extent to which other pressing problems should be subordinated to this first objective. The seriousness of this rift in the free world should not be minimized. It is a matter of deep regret that Canada on More than one recent occasion r Al ill u a Lucill protect the jurisdiction of j the nations has had states in essentially Domestic matters growing at bareness in the various United nations bodies recently the word priorities has been increasingly heard. This is a symptom of growing awareness that while the things that need do ing in the world and that could be done through the United nations Are legion the re sources of the United nations and of its member states Are limited. First things must therefore have first priority if he available resources Are not to be dissipated in doing a multitude of things inadequately. Decisions on priorities can Lead to disagreement Over National policies. The same is True to oppose certain projects from countries whose Friendship we value deeply and for whose aspirations we have the greatest sympathy. At the same time the importance of this differ ence of opinion should not be inflated out of All proportion for Many Peoples of the world the most direct political threat real or imaginary comes from their next door Neighbours or from the continuation of Long unresolved situations in their particular parts of the world. To such Peoples the existence of the United nations is not merely a reassuring act it provides the actual Means of seeking redress for grievances without resort to armed Force. 9 internationally. In the United collective Security nations disagreement on just such an Issue has in fact led to a serious rift in recent months. A Gap has become apparent Between the developed and the underdeveloped coun tries of the world. Its most important cause is disagree ment Over the amount of help which can be extended to the under developed countries and the rate at which it can be extended. The countries irom whom this material help must Princi today s scripture make us glad according to the Days wherein thou Hast afflicted us and the years where in we have seen 90 15 this principle of collective Security is fundamental to the charter and Canadian policy is based on an acceptance of that principle. We Are convinced that aggression in any part of the world constitutes in the Long run a threat to every other part including can Ada but while we must recognize that collective action to meet aggression May have to vary according to Circum stances the response to aggression in Korea and the adoption of the uniting for peace Reso Lution of november 1950, Are Evi Dence of the determination of the kind of collective Security envisaged in the charter. We must not abandon that Woric ;