/
The American Farm Family Is Now Enjoying the
Convenienceslnd Benefits of Prepaid Hospital
Care Through Blue Cross Hospital Service Plans
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
Released by Western Newspaper Union.
THIS is the story of “the
fastest growing move
ment, in the country’’- one
that is adding to the health
and peace of mind of millions
of Americans. Seven years
ago there were fewer than
600,000 of those Americans.
Today there are more than
14,000,000 — more than one
tenth of our whole population
—and it’s likely that by the
end of the year that number
will have risen to 18,000,000.
This movement is group
hospital insurance which, un
| der the stimulation of war
“ time conditions, has become
a $100,000,000 a year business.
And, as the result of the Blue
Cross Hospital Service plan,
sponsored by the Arrierican
Hospital association, Mr.
John Q. Citizen, one of these
14,000,000, has the assurance
that, should illness or acci
dent make hospital care nec
essary for him or some mem
ber of his family, his pocket
book will not be suddenly and
devastatingly depleted. And
the peace of mind which
comes from the assurance of
that fact has been purchased
by John Q. at an average cost
of less than five cents a day!
However, the significant fact
about this story for readers of this
newspaper is that the group hos
pital service plan has spread to the
rural areas of the nation and is
rapidly becoming as common as it
has been in metropolitan centers. Of
course, it has always been true that
farmers and members of their fami
lies 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
fact, both classes need help and
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 reason
for their having the benefit of low
cost planned and “prepaid” hospital
care as for their city cousins having
it. The principal reason why they
didn’t get it sooner lay in certain
factors which are the very heart
of the planned hospital care idea. Of
those factors the word “group” is
the key.
First of all, enrollment of mem
bers in such a plan has to be through
groups and these groups have to be
large enough so that, as in any in
surance of this one type, their mem
bers are “good risks." With the popu
lation so scattered in rural areas, it
seemed that it would be almost im
possible either to enroll people or
to make collections from them. It
seemed also that groups would be so
small and so few that each sub
scriber would be in effect an “indi
vidual” subscriber, hence a hazard
ous risk. Then, too, it was believed
that the people of rural America,
especially farmers, are such indi
vidualists 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 em
ployees were numbered by the thou
sands, offered the best opportunity
for handling such insurance on a
group basis. Then came the organi
zation of the Hospital Service Plan
commission of the’American Hospi
tal association to sponsor the “Blue
Cross” movement. “Blue Cross” is
a general term which identifies the
77 group plans for hospital care
| which meet the standards of com
munity service, professional spon
sorship, non-profit organization and
financial solvency and which have
been approved by the American Hos
pital association.
Not only did the Blue Cross move
ment expand the planned hospital
care idea jn the cities but it was
chiefly responsible for its “moving
out into the country.” It spread to
the smaller cities and towns first and
then out to the farms. It’s 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
value has been proved.” So 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
Sis is visited by Mother and Dad, Blue Cross hospital plan subscribers.
operatives, creameries, and other
well-organized farmer-business asso
ciations.
In the cities, workers who are buy
ing hospital protection pay for it by
payroll deduction. Farmers, who en
roll through banks, authorize those
institutions to make periodic deduc
tions from their checking or savings
accounts to pay the required fees.
Where they enroll through cream
eries or cooperatives, periodic de
ductions are made from their cream
or grain checks and those who en
roll through the grange, farm bureau
or farmers’ union pay their fees on
a quarterly, semiannual or annual
basis, mostly the latter two.
How the Plan Works.
Although there are 77 different
group plans for hospital care and
they differ from each other in some
minor details, here is the essen
tial method of their operation: 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, edu
cational institutions, clubs, union
organizations or farm groups, who
have agreed to pay a certain amount
for this service at regular intervals.
This amount varies somewhat ac
cording to the group plan. Mem
bership costs from $7.20 to $10.20 a
year for one person and from $15
to $24 a year for the member and
his family, including his wife and all
unmarried children under the age of
18. In Minnesota, where the pioneer
ing work In farm enrollment was
done, there is a plan which offers a
man complete coverage for himself
and 50 per cent discounts for his
wife and children at $12 a year, plus
$3 for each adult dependent.
In return for these payments the
insured, or member of his family,
who has to go to a hospital gets a
semi-private room, his meals, gen
eral nursing, anesthetics, special
diets, dressings, laboratory tests.
X-rays and operating room charges.
(This does not include, however, the
physician’s or surgeon’s fees.) He
can enter any one of the country's
approved, registered hospitals, that
is those hospitals recognized as
meeting the standards of the Ameri
can Medical association or state and
local agencies.
If for any reason one of these hos
pitals can’t take him in because of
lack of room, some of the plans pay
back double the year's premium,
but many of them provide cash pay
ments for home care equivalent to
the amount that the hospital care
would have been worth. However,
there have been very few instances
when a Blue Cross member couldn’t
get into a hospital becaue the num
ber of these institutions which par
ticipate in the plan is 2,500 with 80
per cent of the bed capacity of all
the hospitals in tljp United States
open to the public.
Reference has been made to the
pioneering work done in Minnesota
in rural enrollment in hospital plans.
It began in 1938 under the auspices
of the farm bureau in Hennepin
county with 42 family contracts for
a total service coverage of 90 per
sons. Since then farm bureau mem
berships in that state have increased
to 6,200 contracts with 22,400 per
sons covered for hospital care.
These, in 325 local units in 61 coun
ties, have found the plan highly suc
cessful and satisfactory. There are
87 counties in the state and a total
of 1,200 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 sud
den hospitalization costs.
From Minnesota farm bureau
sponsorship of prepaid hospital care
has spread to other states notably
Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North
Dakota and Oklahoma, until now
there are 15 in which farm bureau
federation members may take ad
vantage 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 of the non
profit group hospital care plans and
other rural health developments
that lend themselves to farm family
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
county, Mich., the Farmers Mutual
Fire Insurance company, a co
operative, was used as the already
established group through which to
put the hospital plan into operation.
In northern Illinois, the Northern
Illinois Hospital service, serving 11
counties and their small towns,
ranging in population from 300 to
1,500, have worked in co-operation
with Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions
clubs, with women’s clubs, PTAs,
Veterans of Foreign Wars posts and
churches, farm bureaus, home
bureaus and granges. As a result in
these 11 counties more than 4,500
farm families, representing 13,500
individuals are Blue Cross members.
combined Business croups.
In North Carolina a great many of
the small groups in the small towns
are enrolled as combined business
groups. This type of enrollment
means combining many small busi
nesses into a group, getting 75 per
cent or more of the employes in
these various small concerns to be
come members of the Blue Cross.
In some of these combined groups,
as many as 800 persons join. These
groups consist of drug stores, gro
cery stores, warehouses etc. The
FSA has also been active in cooper
ating with the Blue Cross plans in
North Carolina and other states in
bringing prepaid hospital care to
low income families.
Indicative of the way in which
small town and rural America is
enlisting under the Blue Cross ban
ner are these facts taken at random
from many examples. In one Iowa
town of 592 population, 445 or 75 per
cent have enrolled in a hospital care
plan and in another town of 4,405, a
total of 2,214 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 insur
ance along with their monthly elec
tric bills. This town has a popula
tion of 1,000 and out of a possible
450 persons employed in the town,
155 have enrolled, there being 105
family contracts and 41 individual
contracts.
Such instances could be multi
plied indefinitely. From all of which
it is evident that rural America is
indeed "shrewd buyers and quick to
take to something once its value
has been proved." As for proving its
value, ask the Blue Cross member
in New York state who was recently
hospitalized for 53 days. His con
tract covered him for 23 days of
one contract year and 28 days of
the new year, a total of 51 days.
His total hospital bill was $300.55.
When he was ready to be discharged
from the hospital, he was handed a
hospital service credit of $288 30.
That meant he had to pay in cash
to the hospital only $12.25.
"It’s a thrill that comes once in
a lifetime," he said. And then, quite
naturally, he added, "I think hos
pital service is a great idea."
Membership Grows From 500,000 to 14 Million in Seven Years
Protection of Americans and their
families against the costs of hospital
care was extended to more than
13.000,000 persons in 1943, when
2,600,000 additional participants in
the United States and Canada
elected to enroll in Blue Cross Plans.
This figure is exclusive of 750,000
suspended contracts held by sub
scribers in the armed forces, who
may renew protection upon their re
turn to civilian life.
These facts are revealed by
i
C. Rufus Rorem. director of the
Hospital Service Plan commission,
which co-ordinates the activities and
approves the policies of 78 Blue Cross
Plans located in 38 states and seven
Canadian provinces.
The proportion of family depend
ents enrolled has steadily increased,
from 37 per cent in 1937 to the pres
ent 54 per cent, thus indicating a
growing desire by commeicial, agri
cultural and industrial employers
and employees to protect their wives
and children, as well as themselves. |
Here is the record for the seven
years: *
Year Total Family
(January Partici- Sub- Partici
.*®>' pants scribers pants
1937 - 534,745 63% 37%
1938 - 1,364,975 60 % 407c
1839- 2,874,055 547o 467c
1940.. .. 4,431,772 55 % 457c
1941.. .. 6,049,222 51% 497c
1942 - 8,456,265 43 % 527c
1943 -10,458,899 477c 537c
1944 -13,005,493 46 % 54%
Looking at
HOLLYWOOD
\ jOVTY WOOLLEY has gone to
*'’■* war. The whiskered comedian
for whom life began at 50 is grum
bling thru his beard in a one-angry
man crusade.
The objective of his pet hate is
the nest of "schools” situated in
Hollywood and elsewhere which hold
out a hope and a promise of film
stardom to all aspirants with the
price of tuition.
That their customers possess tal
ents is no prerequisite. The boys and
girls, of course,
and their fathers
and mothers, too,
fall for the old ma
larky in droves.
There seems to
be a widely
prevalent notion
abroad that any
body short of a
deaf mute can
master,the craft
of miming in ap
proximately the
Monty Woolley
time it takes to memorize Hamlet s
soliloquy.
Monty Woolley sputters and roar*
in righteous rage. “Why—why—
when 1 think of mine own kampf—
why, damn it all, these arrant trick
sters!"
No Bed of Rosea
The point is that Monty resents
acrimoniously the inference that
people can learn to act overnight.
He resents this implied slur even
more bitterly because a lot of folks
seem to think that’s what he did.
“If ever a man came up the hard
way I did," said he while waiting
to do a scene for “Irish Eyes Are
Smiling.”
“It's true you’ll find in Hollywood
and New York as well, certain mis
guided and uninformed persons
who’ll tell you that Woolley has been
guzzling fine wines, feeding on
caviar and terrapin, and wearing
costly raiment all his life.
“Fooey! Rats! Nonsense!”
Family Nixed Stage
His dad owned some very prosper
ous New York hotels. The Woolleys
were rolling in it. But when Monty
smeared the family escutcheon with
grease paint the old gentleman
showed him the door.
Undaunted, Monty kept at it. That
was 30 years ago and more, and he
had bounce. He still has bounce, an
amazing share of it.
The fact is that no poor little rich
boy ever had more strikes on him
than did Monty in his 30 years’ war
to get somewhere in the theater.
Moss Hart gave him the big
chance that really emancipated him
in “The Man Who Came to Dinner.”
Moss made George Kaufman and
Sam Harris see Monty’s possibilities
and Monty and Twentieth Century
Fox did the rest.
• • •
As the Rose
There’s a bloom on Ann Sheridan
I've never seen there before and
Ann Sheridan
cute, giggling
Jane Wyman
makes a nice
sidekick for her
in “Doughgirls.”
We got on the
subject of Mexi
co, and the beauti
ful things Paul
ette Goddard
brought home
from the museum !
down there. I
asked Ann to let !
me see her collection. She said,
‘‘Hedda, are you kidding? I didn’t
visit the museum.” . . . Director
Jim Kern told me how Eve Arden
got the Russian part. She was on
the lot doing another picture and
called up wanting to test for the part,
but Jim, who’d known her for
years, said, "Eve, dear, you're not
the type.” Next day Eve dressed up
as the Russian, came on the set,
spoke in dialect, and the part was
hers—which shows even experienced
actresses have to beg for parts they
want.
An Old-Timer Suggests
Metro is shooting “Ziegfeld Fol
lies,” and if all its elements blend
the way they did for Ziggy, it should
make screen history. You’ll find
James Melton singing a love song
while Esther Williams and 50 mer
maids swim to the rhythm of his
voice. You’ll pardon me for suggest
ing, but how about rounding up the
former Ziegfeld Follies beauties and
having them all glamorized as tho
ready for a number, just as they
were in the old days, then switch
and let us see what they’re doing
today. I believe anybody would get
a kick out of a scene like that, but
then I'm just an old sentimentalist
who loves to see ' belles of by-gone
years” get another chance. Why
not? I got mine.
She’s a Smart Girl
It didn’t take long for Red Skelton
to switch from blonde Muriel Mor
ris to a redhead who is just as
friendly with Red’s Edna as Red
is . . . Gosh! Ed Gardner’s swiped
Orson Welles’ nickname "Genius.”
. . I can’t believe that Tommy
Mitchell would leave pictures to do
“King Lear,” even tho Arthur Hop
kins produces it. . . Allan Jones’
fans are hankering to have him back
on the screen, but he should worry.
His weekly pay check for personal
appearances and radio is $6,500.
9 %
By VIRGINIA VALE
Released by Western Newspaper Union.
A REHEARSAL of Frank
Sinatra’s Wednesday
night air show is something to
see. Outside the CBS theater
the bobby sock brigade waits;
even when he’s in California
they wait; otherwise they’ll
lose their places In line. Inside, the
Voice, be-spectacled, chewing gum,
has a swell time clowning with Jerry
Lester. But when he rehearses his
songs Sinatra settles down to busi
ness, working like the conscientious
professional that he is. Seeing him
then, you get a new slant on this
likable young man who has shot to
the top in the entertainment field so
rapidly. He ought to stay there—if
the ardent admirers Who lie in wait
for him don't kill him first; one girl
almost choked him a while ago!
-*
Adolphe Menjou, debonair as ever,
has been dashing about New York,
just back from bond-selling in
Canada. Meeting friends, he talks
about that trip, and goes on to dis
cuss, not the RKO picture he's Just
V
ADOLPHE MENJOU
finished with Sinatra, but the fact
that he’s going to the South Pacific
in November. Like other visiting
stars, he was booked knee-deep for
radio appearances; there’s a short
age of “names” in New York.
-*
C. S. Forester, the famous author
who wrote “Captain Horatio Horn
blower” and "The Ship,” will write
the story in which Greta Garbo will
return to the screen. Producer Les
ter Cowan engaged him to do a story
about fighting sailors, men and
women, in the Norwegian merchant
marine. Miss Garbo, who hasn’t
liked other ideas submitted to her,
must be in favor of this one.
W.
Don’t believe that Penny Single
ton is as wacky in real life as she
sounds in the title role of the air’s
“Blondie.” She was an established
Broadway musical comedy star
when she was brought to Hollywood
for dramatic and singing roles; be
fore that, she’d studied journalism
at Columbia university. She turns
out a children’s story occasionally.
Anita Colby returned from a
nation-wide chore on behalf of
"Cover Girl” with a new formula
for getting a room in an over
crowded hotel. "When they'd say
they were all sold out,” said she,
"I’d ask if they didn’t have one
room that just wasn’t made up yet.
They always had. And I can honestly
say now that I’ve made beds in
some of America’s best hotels!”
~i
Barton Yarborough finally did it.
Playing "Doc Long” in "I Love a
Mystery,” by Carlton Morse, he did
260 performances without a slip of
the tongue. Then, instead of saying
"I never believe in sockin’ a j
sleepin’ man,” he said "I never be
lieve in sleepin’ a sockin’ man.”
Bob Burns, radio’s "Arkansas
Traveler,” had to go on a diet for
his new picture, “Belle of the
Yukon,” with Dinah Shore and!
Gypsy Rose Lee. "Times have
changed,” remarked Bob. "Twelve
years ago I had to diet because I
wasn't makin’ a pic ture.”
March of Time director Len Lye
and cameraman Bob Navarro were
in Ireland just before Great Britain
imposed restriction of travel be
tween the two countries. They gol
out in time with the thousands ol
feet of film thtfy had been shooting.
The result is an up-to-the-minute
picture, "The Irish Question,” that
shows Ireland and the Irish as they
are today. It’s informative and good
entertainment.
Stuart Buchanan, who now heads
the Blue Network’s script depart
ment, was one of the first to see
“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”
when it reached Broadway for a re
turn engagement. He’d already seen
it at least 1,500 times; he was dia
logue director when it was made!
ODDS AND ENDS—Don’t be fooled
by that carnivorous plant you’ll see in
“Rainbow IslantT'. reproduced from a
photograph, it operutes by electricity.
j , . . The parka worn by Bob Hope in
“Road to Utopia’’ tons presented to him
by soldiers when he toured Alaska. . . .
That ex-serviceman who recently re
leased old inhibitions by playing the
drums on Milton Berle s “Let 1 our
self Go” program has had tu>o audition
dates, and may land an engagement
with a major orchestra soon. . . . The
bottom fell out of poultry for Don
Ameche the other day when an aban
doned well caved in under his chicken
yard, burying his prize hens.
1930
»«* ,
Sailor-Princess
'T'HE best features of both—a
princess frock and the trim,
clever lines of a sailor collar and
tie—are combined in this spirited
frock. Make it of launderable cot
ton in a light shade. Do the trim
in bright blue linen or in a pastel.
• • e
Barbara Bell Pattern No. I960 Is de
signed for sizes 11, 13, 15, 17 and 19. Size
13, short sleeves, requires 31fc yards of
39-inch material; •/* yard contrast for col
lar, bow and cuffs.
•€ 5 > Y*
u S s
From Pat’* Heart
Boss—Pat, Pm going to make you a
present of this pig.
Pat—Sure, and 'tis jest like you, sor.
Enough
Henry—I’ve half a mind to get
married.
Bill—That’s all you need.
Real Need
Customer—I don’t like these pic
tures; they don’t do me justice.
Photographer—Lady, what you
want is mercy.
Another sport in which you can
be penalized for holding besides
football is necking.
Greetings
First Salesman—What do you
sell?
Second Salesman—Salt. What is
your line?
First—I’m a salt seller, too.
Shake.
A Name for ’Em
First Student—What do they call those
tablets the Gauls used to write on?
Second Student—Gaul steiies.
Friend in Need
Married Man—My wife is cook
ing her first dinner. Will you come
along and share it with me?
Bachelor—Sure—haven’t I al
ways shared your sorrows?
Definition for counter-irritant—
a woman shopper.
Worse Yet
Sympathetic Friend—And you
say her father came between you?
Suitor—No, behind me.
Flying Raiders’ Maps
U. S. fliers on bombing raids
over Italy carry two different sets
of maps. One map shows the tar
get they must hit. The other
shows the historic and cultural
monuments they must take spe
cial care to avoid.
Collarless Two-Piecer
IT HAS the new stripped necklinn
* look — the clean, comfortable
lines of the collarless cardigan I
Do it in soft rayon crepes or in
fresh-as-paint summer cottons.
Make the tailored collar vestee of
pique — interchange it with n
frilled jabot for dressy wear.
• • *
Barbara Bell Pattern No. 1930 Is d*>
signed for sizes 32. 34. 36. 38. 40. 43. 44
and 46. Size 34 jacket, short sleeve, re
quires 2 yards of 39-lnch material; skirt,
2 yards.
Send your order to:
SEWING CIRCLE PATTERN DEPT.
530 South Wells St. Chicago
Enclose 20 cents In coins for each
pattern desired.
Pattern No.Size.
Name ..
Address .•
Orhisfles
Get rid of Canada Thistles in one
season without, chemical, plowing
or loss of crop. Nothing more to
buy. Absolute money-back guarantee
backed by $1,000 bond. Send $5 to
LLOYD SAMPSON. W. 1st Are.
S., ESTHERVILLE, IOWA, Jar
| complttt method and guarantee.
Sprightly Hare
The jumping hare of Africa can
leap as far as 20 feet.
’ SNAPPY FACTS {
ABOUT
RUBBER
-< i
Christopher Columbus Is cred
ited with bringing first re
ports of rubber to tho civil
ised world, but rubber relics
found among Mayan ruins
lead some scientists to be
lieve that rubber items wera
in use in the eleventh century.
Rubber, both wild and plantation,
prows best In an area 10 degrees
either side of the equator.
The production of one com
plete large bomber tire takes
as much time as does the mak
ing of several truck tires, or
up to 60 passenger car tires
of the most popular sise. Tho
demand for large tires is se
verely straining the produc
tion facilities of the industry.
\Nt
Everybody Loves Them
4&£&wfb
CORN FLAKES
“The Crains ara Grsat Fnodt”—
• Kellogg’s Com Flakes bring you / IflSj,
nearly all the protective food elements / ft is Aug?
of the whole grain declared essential / U U if Pa L&ji