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Mary LaskerMary Lasker
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Part:         Session:         Page of 1143

Well, now, that summarizes our frustration on efforts to get legislation for health insurance. Eleven years have passed and no health insurance bill has passed yet, and Kennedy's proposals are really for hospital insurance for people over 65 and were defeated last year in the Senate by one vote, and I'm ashamed to say that Senator Hill was one who voted against it, and his vote could have turned the tide.

Q:

Why did he vote against it?

Lasker:

Because he was afraid of the doctors in Alabama and he was up for election. It's really rugged to have the money that you need when you need care.

Q:

What happened to these recommendations?

Lasker:

Well, the recommendations, the report, was rather widely circulated, and as I say there was a recommendation for additional research and we've gotten substantial additional research money in these 11 years. We've gotten the aid-to-medical-education bill through finally. We later got a Survey of Sickness Bill through. We have substantial money for the building of research facilities; we got that bill through in this time. But I don't say that these were the results of these recommendations. It did educate and familiarize people a little bit with what the problems were.





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