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GRIFFITHS BILL. Introduced in the House by Democrat Martha Griffiths of Michigan, a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Endorsed by the A.F.L.-C.l.O., it would cover unlimited hospitalization, physicians' services including surgery, preventive care and physical checkups, required nursing-home care, rehabilitation services, dental care for all under 16, eye care and allowances for eyeglasses and prescription drugs. It retains a coinsurance feature, mainly to cut down overuse: the patient would pay $2 toward the cost of all visits to the doctor's or dentist's office after the first, which would be free. It would be financed under the Social Security system, with employers paying 3% of payrolls, the federal treasury matching this, and employees paying 1%. The Government would be free to contract with suppliers of medical care and would offer incentives for more efficient group practices. Cost: $45 billion (including Medicare and Medicaid).
REUTHER PLAN. The motive power behind the Committee for National Health Insurance is Walter Reuther, whose United Auto Workers already have comprehensive regional prepayment plans working in Michigan. With a small and expert staff, C.N.H.l. has been thrashing out details in subcommittees for more than a year. Their final proposal will be introduced by Senators Yarborough of Texas and Edward Kennedy, probably within a month. Most comprehensive of all the plans so far formulated, it is certain to arouse the sharpest controversy. According to Staff Di rector Max Fine, the aim is to attack the health crisis on four fronts: manpower shortages, rising costs, disorganization and uneven quality. Estimated cost (undoubtedly optimistic): $40 billion annually, with $24 billion to be raised by a 51% payroll tax shared by employers and employees, and $16 billion from general revenues. The plan would cover all U.S. residents, absorbing Medicaid and much of Medicare. Through ten regional agencies the Government would contract with suppliers of medical care. The C.N.H.l. plan would encourage group practices, and by giving them a 3% override on contracts would actually discourage nongroup practitioners. To lure doctors into poorer rural areas, they might be offered a combination of salary and fee for service.
While every American may be entitled to at least adequate health care, he is not getting it, and will not, until a momentous national debate reaches election-year levels of acrimony and is somehow resolved.
The issue has already been injected into this year's elections by Democrat Theodore C. Sorensen, campaigning for the U.S. Senate from New York, who last week announced his own plan for "universal health insurance." Apart from such standpatters as the A.M.A. and its arch-conservative Republican allies, there is a growing consensus that some national insurance blanket must be thrown over the ailing body of health care.