Voluntary Health Agencies and Government

Abstract

The expanding role of government in the health field confronts voluntary health agencies, not with obsolescence, but with new challenges. Only if these agencies lose their verve and flexibility will their future be in jeopardy. Changes in their relationship to government obviously are taking place. In 1946, federal appropriations for health research were under a million dollars. In 1955, at $60 million, they had already surpassed the sums raised by voluntary health agencies. Since then, the funds channeled into research by voluntary agencies have continued to grow slowly. Meanwhile, government money for health research has increased explosively—to $600 million in the fiscal year 1964 for the National Institutes of Health alone and to a fiscal-year 1966 total which is expected to exceed a billion dollars. Voluntary health agencies used to provide much of the medical care and other welfare services for the less fortunate. Today the scope of the government