| Show the american amerian farm family Is now Nw enjoying the conveniences and benefits of prepaid hospital care through blue cross hospital servie service plans by ei ELMO SCOTT WATSON released by western newspaper union his is the story of the THIS fastest growing tave movement in the country one that is adding to the health and peace of mind of millions of americans m eri cans seven years e ars ago there were fewer than han of those americans today there are more than more than one tenth of our whole population and its likely that by the end of the year that number will have risen to this movement is gro group hospital insurance which under the stimulation of wartime conditions has become a a year business and as the res result alt of the blue cross hospital service plan apons sponsored ore d b by y t the he american hospital association mr john qi citizen oneff one of these these has the assurance that should illness or ac accident CI make hospital care necessary for him or soma some member 0 of his family his pocketbook will not be suddenly and devastatingly depleted and the peace of mind which comes from aiom the assurance of that fact has been purchased by john Q at an average cost of less than five cents a dayl day however the he significant fact about this story for readers ot of this newspaper Is that the group hospital service plan has spread to the rural areas of the nation and Is rapidly becoming as common as it has been in metropolitan centers ot of course it has always been true that farmers and members of their families get sick or have accidents just as do factory workers the same Is true of employees of business firms in villages and small towns in tact fact both classes need help and 0 often are less able to pay hospital bills than are the middle class or low income groups in the big cities so there was quite as much mach reason for or their having the benefit of low cost planned and prepaid pre paid hospital care as for their city cousins having it the principal reason why they get it sooner lay in certain factors actors which are are the very heart of the planned hospital care idea of those factors the word group I 1 Is 3 the key first of all enrollment of members in such a plan has to be through groups and these groups have to be large enough so BO that as to in any insurance of this one type their members are good risks with the population so scattered in rural areas it seemed that it would be almost impossible either to enroll people or to make collections from them it seemed also that groups would be so small and so few that each subscriber would be in effect an andl individual subscriber hence a hazardous risk then too it was believed that the people of rural america especially farmers are such andl individualists vidua lists and independent thinkers that they could not be enrolled in hospitalization groups large enough to be self sustaining comes the blue cross for these and other reasons the earliest plans for hospital care were concentrated in the big cities where large industries whose employees were numbered by the thousands offered the best opportunity for handling such insurance on a group basis then came the or organization garil of the hospital service plan commission of the american hospital association to sponsor the blue cross movement blue cross Is a general term which identifies the 77 group plans tor for hospital care which meet the standards of 0 community service professional sponsorship sor ship nonprofit non profit organization and financial solvency and which have been approved by the american hospital association not only did the blue cross movement expand the planned hospital care idea in the cities but it was chiefly responsible for its moving ou out t into the country it spread to the smaller cities and towns first and then out to the farms its true that farmers are independent thinkers but as one of the pioneer workers in the rural field has stated they are also shrewd buyers and are quick to take to something once its va value lue has been proved so naw now farmers are being enrolled through banks with which they do business and which are willing to cooperate through their farm bureaus their granges their farmers unions co 7 r k sis Is and dad blue dross hospital operatives creameries crea meries and other well organized farmer business associations ciati clat ions ons in the cities workers who are buying hospital protection pay for it by payroll deduction farmers who enroll through banks authorize those institutions to make periodic deductions froma their checking check irig or savings accounts to pay the required tees fees where they enroll through cream eries ar or cooperatives periodic deductions duct ions ioni are ire made from their cream or irain grain checks and those thos e who he enroll you through the grange larm bureau or tanners farmers banion pay their lees fees on a aquart quarterly eily semiannual or annual basis mostly the latter two how the he plan works although there are 77 different group plans for hospital care and they differ from each other in iome some minor details here is the essential method of their opera operation tiow the hospitals in a certain region city county or state guarantee hospital service to blue cross subscribers whether they are members of groups in factories city offices ed edu u cat ca lonal institutions clubs union organizations or larm farm groups who have agreed to pay a certain amount tor for this service at intervals this amount varies somewhat according to the group plan membership costs from to 1020 10 20 a year tor for onel person persan and from 15 to 24 i a year for the member and his family including his wife ind and all unmarried children under the age ot of 18 in minnesota where the pioneering work in tarm farm enrollment was done there Is a plan which offers a man complete coverage for himself and 50 per cent discounts tor for his wife and child children Ven at 12 a year plus 3 for each ach e adult dependent in return for these payments the insured or member of his daml family ly who abo has to go to a hospital gets a semiprivate semi private room his meals general nursing anesthetics special diets dressings laboratory tests X rays and operating room charges this does not include however the physicians or surgeons fees he can enter any one of the count c 0 rys approved registered hospitals he s petals that is those hospitals recognized as meeting the standards of the american medical association or state and local agencies if for any reason one of these hospitals cant take him in because of lack of room some boine of the plans pay back double the years premium but many of them provide cash payments lor for home care equivalent to the a amount me un t that the hospital care would have been worth however there have been be envery very few instances when a blue cross member get into a hospital beca became the number of these institutions which participate in the plan is 2500 with 80 per cent of the bed capacity of all the hospitals in the united states open to the public reference has been made to the pioneering work done fa 0 minnesota in rural enrollment in hospital plans it began in 1938 under the auspices of the tarm farm bureau in Henn Hennep epin ln county with 42 family contracts tor for a total service coverage of 90 persons since then farm bureau memberships ber ships in that state have increased to contracts with persons covered lor for hospital care these in local units in 61 counties have found the plan highly successful and satisfactory there are 87 counties in the state and a total of 1200 farm bureau units so that three fourths of all the counties in minnesota now have units enrolled in the blue cross and more than one fourth of the units are already protecting themselves against sudden hospitalization costs from minnesota farm bureau sponsorship of creps preps prepaid I 1 d hospital care cara has bas s spread pread to other states notably kansas missouri nebraska north dakota and oklahoma until now now there are 15 in which farm bureau federation members may take advantage ol of blue cross plans through their unit groups in december 1942 the american farm bureau at its annual meeting in chicago wrote into its nationwide program of work a strong indorsement endorsement indor of the nonprofit group hospital care plans and other rural health developments that lend themselves to farm f family amity unit action however the farm bureau is not the only agency through which the hospital plan is being carried to the farms of the nation in hillsdale HiU sdale county mich the farmers mutual fire insurance company a cooperative was used as the already established graup group through which to put the hospital plan into operation in northern illinois the northern illinois hospital service serving it 11 counties and their small towns ranging in population SOO to 1500 have worked in operation cooperation co with rotary kiwanis and lions clubs with clubs PTAs veterans of foreign wars posts and churches farm bureaus home bureaus and granges As a re result in these 11 II counties more than 4 aw farm families representing individuals are blue cross members combined business groups in north carolina a great many ol 01 the small groups in the small towns are enrolled as combined business groups this type of enrollment means combining many small businesses into a group getting 75 per cent or more of the employed emp loyes in these various small concerns to become members of the blue cross in some of these combined groups as many as persons join these groups consist of drug stores grocery stores warehouses etc the has also been active in cooperating with the blue cross plans to 14 north carolina and other states in bringing prepaid hospital care ta low income families indicative of the way in which small town and rural america Is enlisting under the blue cross bannet banner are these facts taken at random from many examples in one iowa town of population or 75 per cent have enrolled in a hospital care plan and in another town of a total of 2214 or 50 per cent have joined in one wisconsin community the local power company acts as collector and remitting agent and the people of the community who have enrolled pay for this insurance along with their monthly electric bills this town has a tion of 1000 and out of a possible bIf persons employed in the town have enrolled there being family contracts and 41 individual contracts such instances could be multiplied indefinitely from all of which atas it is evident that rural america is indeed shrewd buyers and quick to W take to something once its value hep ha been proved As tor for proving iu its value ask the blue cross member in new york state who was recently hospitalized for 53 days his contract covered him for 23 days ol 01 one contract year and 21 29 days of the new year a total oi of 51 days his total hospital bill was 55 when hil he was ready to be discharged from the hospital he be was handed a hospital service credit 0 of f 30 that meant he had to pay in cash to the hospital only 1225 its ira a thrill that comes once in a lifetime he said and then them quite naturally he be added 1 I abi think hospital spital service is a great idea |
