TRENDS

Abstract

THE President's January messages to Congress may be looked upon as a measure of the Administration's goals for the ensuing year. In the eighty-five billion dollar budget submitted to Congress on January 21, provision for medical care and public health activities add up to an estimated two billion one hundred million dollars, not counting the sizable but unpredictable sum to be spent next year on international health assistance under Point 4 program direction. Included within this sum is a Public Health Service budget somewhat over three hundred million dollars. Veterans Administration is down for slightly more than four billion dollars with about seven hundred million dollars earmarked for medical and hospital services (exclusive of construction projects). In the budget for Civil Defense nearly two million dollars is scheduled for stockpiling of medical supplies and equipment. A comparatively small figure, but one with important significance for the health of children, is an item of $250,000 for grants in aid to states for the development of a program for the fluoridation of community water supplies. For anyone interested in observing a 10 year trend in government spending in the field of public health, the following figures are most revealing. Here are the actual budget receipts and expenditures (expressed in millions) for the fiscal years 1944 through 1951 and the estimates for fiscal years 1952 and 1953, fiscal year 1952 being from July 1, 1951 through June 1952. For promotion of public health:[See Table In Source PDF] Along with the figures, the Budget Message is noteworthy for the health legislation which is recommended and even more interesting, perhaps, for certain omissions.