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Show Low Income Families Have Ptlore Frequent And Longer Illness Many people are looking to Cooperative Co-operative Health Associations as a method of solving on a rational ra-tional basis, the problem of medical med-ical care. This is the second in a series of articles prepared for the Cooperative Education and Health Committees of the Utah County Planning Board on the subject of Cooperative Medicine. "Illness and death increase their toll as income drops," states the report re-port from the National Health Conference Con-ference (held in Washington, D. C, July, 1938), "while at the same time medical care decreases sharply, as the need for this medical care mounts." This "vicious health circle" has been recognized for a long time, but for the first time the problem has received a national airing. The conference report goes on to state that: "A comprehensive review of the statistics on sickness and poverty would try your patience. . Every substantial sickness survey, whether In urban or rural communities, whether made by government, by philanthropy, or by business concerns, con-cerns, serves only to furnish additional addi-tional proofs that sickness and disability dis-ability are more prevalent among people of small incomes than those who are better situated in economic circumstances. This is the basis for the conclusion that the poor and those in low income classes need volume of disability in the relief group that is three times as great as among the upper Income families 11.9 days as compared with 3.9 days per person." These facts, as revealed by the National Health Survey, makes us realize that the American health problem is a tough one, especially in that the patient (and the poor are in the majority as patients) pays the lion's share of the medical bill with out-of-pocket payments which equal 80 per cent, the government paying 16 per cent, industry 2.0 per cent, and philanthropy only 1.9 per cent. (Estimates by Technical Committee on Medical Care in "The Need For A National Health Program" Pro-gram" 1938.) This same bulletin ("The Need For A National Health Program") then goes on to enlarge on the problem prob-lem and states: "Although ignorance, indifference and other factors play a part, the main reason why persons in the lower income brackets do not receive' re-ceive' proper medical care is that they are unable to pay for it. Surveys Sur-veys of family expenditures show that by and large, families tend to spend, on the average, 4 to 5 per cent of income for medical care. The proportion of income spent for medical care is fairly constant, whatever the income, up to an annual ann-ual family income of $5,000, beyond I more medical care than the well-to-do or the wealthy." The National Health Survey, which was the basis for the statements state-ments just quoted, was the most x-tensive x-tensive nation-wide health inventory ever taken. The survey was conducted con-ducted by the United States Health Service in cooperation with the Works Progress Administration. The survey is quoted again on the question ques-tion of income and sickness: "Not only do low income families I that wnicn it tends to decline slightly. slight-ly. A survey showed that in 1928-31 non-relief families with annual incomes in-comes under $1,200 spent 43 dollar: a year on the average for medical care. The 43 dollars is divided tc pay for four general types of service: Forty-five per cent goes to the doctors, doc-tors, 18 per cent to the dentiest, IS per cent for medicine, and 19 per cent for other services such as hospitalization hos-pitalization and other medical services.' experience more frequent illness during the year than their more fortunate for-tunate neighbors, but their illnesses are, on the average, of longer duration, dura-tion, 63 per cent longer in fact. The annual sickness duration rate coupled with the higher frequency of chronic illness in the relief group, gives rise to an annual per capita |