Health insu rance | Is possible now BNTeHtO can open the way for national health insurance now. Premier Leslie Frost holds the key. When the talks be- tween federal and _ provincial health ministers open on Janu- ary 23, Ontario’s stand will tip the balance for or against health insurance. Frost is obligated to do so. Before the Ontario elections. he was the one pre- mier—and he deserves credit for this—who asked that health insurance be placed on the agenda of the premiers’ meet- ing. Further, he said he wanted “action.” On several occasions he has committed himself to go along if the federal government were prepared to come in on a joint health insurance plan. It would be a gross doublecross on the part of the Frost government to fail now to line up squarely for a health insurance plan. Last March 23, Premier Frost posed this question: “When is the right time ?’- “No plan,” he said, “is feas- ible unless there is a clear under- taking that the federal govern- ment would participate, and the federal government at the present time has clearly said ‘na’. is This is no longer true. Geneva has changed the picture. The federal government now Says a conditional “Yes.” In this new light, Ontario’s people will: regard this statement of Premier Frost as a clear’ com- mitment to go along. The right time is right now. Premier Frost said that a hospital and medical service plan for Ontario would cost , $189,500,000. Then he added: “If the federal government would agree to subsidize such a plan to the extent of 50 per- _ cent, it would amount to $95 million, but that is something which might not suit the other provinces.” This difficulty also can be removed at the January 23 negotiations. The “other pro- vinces” will be there. If Ontario takes a clear stand they may very well, in their majority, agree to just such a plan and to the upper demand of Ontario that Ottawa pay 60 percent, which is reasonable. Here again By STEWART SMITH i is a statement that commits - Premier Frost not to backslide at this crucial hour. Premier Frost killed health insurance proposals 10 years ago, arguing for a “10-year hoist” on the excuse of “not enough hospital beds.” Health insurance is said to be a “contractual undertaking of the government to supply hos- pital beds.” According to this, health insurance must wait until every last hospital has been built and equipped. Nothing could be more absurd. Some of the people who talk this way are also the champions of “private health insurance plans.” They kick the props from under their own argu- ‘ment. Right today private hospital plans are selling hospital in- surance at profitable high rates © to millions of people in Ontario and no one is suing them be- cause there are not enough hospital beds, Health insurance will do two things: first, ensure the best use oi available hospital space, and second, speed up hospital con- struction on a planned, econo- mical basis, avoiding costly errors . This same point about “enough beds” answers Premier Frost’s insistence on long-drawn-out “stages” in bringing in health imsurance. He tabled plans in October that call, first, for dia- gnostic service, then “home care,” then, “extraordinary cases,” then, “maternal and new born care.’ This would take eight to ten years. Then would start three stages to bring in hospital insurance: first, indigents, then “deduc- tible insurance” cases, then, others. This is unsound from the standpoint of health. It throws out of balance the work of treating and caring for the health needs of the peoplé at every stage. To open diagnostic service while. denying medical and hospital care means _ telling people what’s wrong with them and, then refusing'to place treat- ment within their reach. Every sick person would have to try to get under the wire of each oné of Premier Frost’s “stages” in order to get treatment. There would be a one-sided, disproportionate emphasis and forced attention on the part of doctors to the particular kind of service that had been brought — eae within the given stage of “in- sured service.’ This would create disorganization, rather than bringing system and plan- ning into health matters. B.C. and Saskatchewan em- ployed no such “stages.” Other countries have not employed Premier Frost’s system of ‘“stagess’ It has no support in the authoritative studies and ex- perience of other countries. It is not made desirable or neces- sary by any peculiarities of the Ontario or Canadian health picture. It is only an excuse for delay, delay, and still more de- lay. ; Health insurance means hos- pital and medical care. It-must place at the disposal of: every citizen, free of charge, every kind of medical, surgical, nurs- ing, hospital and prescription service considered necessary by the doctor of his choice. Another agrument, now to be cleared off the decks, is that the hated sales tax would nec- essarily have to come into On- tario with health insurance. B.C. and Saskatchewan brought in 5 percent sales tax to finance hospital insurance. They did not have the possibil- . ity of a federal subsidy from the start, which seems altogether possible for Ontario. Premier Frost himself said that under a joint plan with the federal government, a one “percent sales tax would raise Ontario’s extra revenue, and no one in his. right mind would propose a one percent tax, which would cost far too much to col- lect in proportion to the yield. Ontario’s revenue from her natural resources, going to- gether with a new plan to de- velop them in Canada’s national interests, could provide whole cost of the provincial share of health insurance. Premier Frost rightly re- jected the suggestion that On- tario should subsidize the pri- vate hospital insurance plans rather than government scheme. He said it would be putting “public money into the operation of a private business.” January 23 can be made a great turning point in the people’s long fight for a national _health insurance scheme. e@ Second in a series of two articles, eRe the | introduce a, Resolution for 1956 Let’s increase our family of readers Dear Reader; The boards in the Pacific Tribune office on which we record the circulation figures have been wiped clean. All the shortcomings of 1955 have been erased, but the achieve- ments — and there were many — continue to be reflected in our wider circle of readers. : To increase that circle of readers remains our objective . in 1956. And we look first to the devoted workers in our readers. press clubs to introduce our paper to new The boards have been wiped clean for 1955 but this week there are new figures on them — the figures listed below. These figures represent only the proposed ob- jective which we ask press clubs to discuss and then let us know whether they accept ‘them or want them revised. : Naturally, we’d like to see the figures revised upward. But we’d far sooner have a press club overfulfil a modest objective than fall short of a too-ambitious target. ¢ Rita Whyte GREATER VANCOUVER 1955 ACHIEVED PROPOSED CLUB QUOTA ~ 1955 QUOTAS 1956 AOVaNCe e522. eke 60 roe.9 | 65 AsSenssmith: <2 24. 50 41° 50 TORO AY ese 60 65 60 Building Trades ____-_-- 45 (i3t 45 Drys Dock. 35-eet sett 60 61 60 East: Ende ake 40 42 40 Electrical... 22> ee 55 33 50 WIngswaye re 3 ees 30 39 35 Forest Products _____-__ 125 86 100 Georgia: fay ae 48 33 40 Grandview: 322825 so 140 121 125 Hastings East) 2-2) 96 53 45 Kitsilano: #23. seer fs 90 117 106 Little Mountain ________ 50 48 50 Mohberleyae 2s 2k 8s ee 110 88 88 Mount Pleasant ________ 60 » 67 65 Niilo Makela ___-______ 5459 34 40 Norquay. 22.920 32 errs $0 716 90 ¢ Oleing Meet So ko ae 30 25 30 Peng). Pais 2235s tae 10 q 10 Philip Halperin ________ 50 : Ets 65 Point: Grey). = et 125 140° 125 Strathcona © _____ ig aa 8 45 34 45 Stidents. =o =. oes 10 3 10 Victory Square -_______ 150 128 125 Waterfront 222 27s 40 42 40 West. End) 2) ss Jucee eA 121 120° Capitol Hall 2 es 80 61 10 South Burnaby -__--__- 125 110 120 Vancouver Heights ____ 50 58 ~ 50 ‘North Vancouver -____- 125 122 125 North Vancouver District 125 - 84 125 City Miscellaneous _____- 300 254 370 PROVINCE | & 1955 ACHIEVED PROPOSED CLUB QUOTA 1955 QUOTAS 1956 ~oBritannia,, > 2 Poss 15 10 15 Copper Mountain _______ 10 11 10 Crannrook 3s cep es 15 ee 15 4S) 8 (ores cs OUI ie gad op es a x 30 aD 25 Bort Dangley.: os) 40 29 48 South Langley _________ 35 21 30 Grassy, Plains, 2s 10 8 10 Kamloops ce bar” 25 53 40 AUN eY ee eee 35 26 35 Maple Ridge ___________ 55 81 15 Michel-Natal —_____ 50>. 29 40 Mission, 2238 nS 20 20 25 Nanalinioy: 22 Sein ee 400 298 _ 350 PNEGISOD. oo ee 100 66 15 New Westminster ______ 125 88 100 INGtch: Hille (e322 20 29 25 Port: aKellsscy eee 20 alr} 20 POWell River. 75 65 710 Prince Georse. 2 oe 15 24 20 , Prince: Rupert. 22:2 25 12 15 wypalmon Arm (20-254, 25 21 20 Solntula. ee eer 45 | 49 45 Steveston: 28s el 10 5 10 North’ Surrey __________ 30 40 35 White: “Rock 2.) 30 24 30 Trail-Rossland _________ 130 109 T20 Vernon: 2 22a cee hy 30 26 30 Island Region __________ oe fie 100 AADETNIS? ceo Se ek 175 148 175 Campbell River ________ 15 59 70 Courtenay Lifer alee a Se 90 55 15 Cumberland «__.02 45 109 90 Duncan ye Se ke 40 50 50 Lake Cowichan ________ 70 45 10 Rarksville eo" Xi. ty: 30 43 35 Victorias. ee 250 209 205 125 163