TRENDS

Abstract

LAST week President Truman announced the creation of a Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation that he said would "make a searching inquiry into the facts and give us the benefit of objective and constructive thinking on these problems which are of vital concern to every American." This newspaper in editorial comment last Sunday welcomed the President's move, saying that the new commission "should be a forward step toward breaking the deadlock that has existed on constructive action for a positive health program." The editorial added: "The ability, stature and reputation of the new commission, which is to be headed by Dr. Paul B. Magnuson, insure the professional knowledge and maturity of judgment that will be needed to make workable recommendations for solving these problems. It is a commission in which both the public and the health professions can have confidence." The day the commission membership was announced, however, one appointee, Dr. Gunnar Gundersen, La Crosse, Wis., a member of the board of trustees of the American Medical Association asked that his name be removed from its membership. He said, "I believe I am correct in assuming that the commission is designed, both in its majority membership and its objectives, as an instrument of practical politics to relieve President Truman of an embarrassing position as an unsuccessful advocate of compulsory health insurance."