Health insurance : its relation to the public health / by B.S. Warren, and Edgar Sydenstricker.

  • Warren, B. S. (Benjamin S.), 1871-1935.
Date:
1916
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health insurance : its relation to the public health / by B.S. Warren, and Edgar Sydenstricker. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    for closer cooperation among the responsible groups; and (4) to dis¬ cuss the adequacy of health insurance as a method for their coopera¬ tion in promoting the health of wage earners and their families. In discussing these subjects it should be noted that mortality and morbidity statistics have not been used to measure the relative im¬ portance of economic factors, but to indicate their trend and their effects. As a basis for considering the relation of health insurance to the health of the wage-working population, a review of the situation which needs to be remedied is given first consideration. I. PREVALENCE AND COST OF SICKNESS AMONG WAGE¬ WORKERS. The cost to the nation of preventable diseases has frequently been the subject of estimates and discussions. These estimates include the entire population, and even if reduced by one-half are still appallingly great. As a basis, however, for a clearer understanding of the prob¬ lem of health among wageworkers and their families, it is important to have some idea of its magnitude in more specific terms. It has been tentatively stated that each of the 30,000,000 workers in the United States loses on the average about nine days every year on account of sickness alone. This does not take into consideration the effects of sickness upon his own vigor and efficiency, or upon the welfare of his family, or upon the efficiency of the industry in which he is engaged. The estimate of nine days is a preliminary one based upon an investigation made for the United States Commission on Industrial Relations of nearly a million workers in representative establishments and occupations in this country. While the more complete statistics that are now being compiled may cause some revision of this estimate, it is interesting to note that it very nearly coincides with the German and English figures for over 26,000,000 industrial workers, which show an average of eight to nine days of illness per year through a number of years. Estimating the daily wage at $2 and the cost of medical attention at $1 per day, the annual loss to the 30,000,000 wage earners on account of the nine days of sickness would be over $800,000,000. This leaves out of considera¬ tion the losses due to death and to decrease in efficiency which fol¬ lows illness. It also leaves out of consideration the effect upon the family when the breadwinner is disabled. These figures, impressive as they are, but inadequately afford a true conception of the problem of sickness among wageworkers; they merely give an idea of its magnitude in terms of economic signifi¬ cance. To be properly appreciated, they must be interpreted in terms of human suffering. Several intensive physical examinations