WHAT WOULD 'MEDICARE' COST?

The article presents information on the cost of Medicare for the aged people in the United States. The argument for providing health services to the aged is based on the assertion that these people cannot get the needed services. The recent estimates of hospital utilization by OASDI beneficiaries aged 65 and over are based on a survey made in the winter of 1957 among OASDI beneficiaries. The article indicates that the estimators of Medicare costs believe that hospital care received by the aged may be sufficient now, or that at most, utilization would be increased by 24 per cent under the proposed program. Removal of financial barriers to obtain hospital care would very sharply increase hospital utilization. With the world polarized between totalitarian rule and aspirations for democratic principles, aged should not be deceived as to what they can expect from Medicare, nor the public deluded as to the costs of an effective health program consistent with free enterprise for health services.