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Delegates change policy stands on key issues

Abortion

The National Medical Assn. says abortion is a medical matter to be decided solely by the woman and her physician.

However, delegates warned in approving a statement from their Section on Obstetrics and Gynecology, that all must guard against its use as a means of genocide.

ABORTION MUST never be allowed to "become a means of overt or disguised genocide and . . .  continuing scrutiny of its application" must be used to prevent this, the statement said.

Meeting at its Diamond Jubilee convention, Aug. 2-6, at Atlanta, delegates named Emerson Walden, MD, a Baltimore surgeon, president-elect.

Wiley Thurber Armstrong, MD, Rocky Mount, N.C., former speaker of the House and chairman of the board, was installed as president.

IN OTHER ACTIONS, the House:
• Created a malpractice committee to "establish and set up" a program of self-insurance.
• Voted to send representatives to Nigeria to help "resurrect" that nation's health system.
• Called for a massive educational program on drug abuse.
• Proposed a rules change to allow membership to osteopathic physicians.
• Voted to establish a Boston chapter in the near future.

Medicaid

An experimental $25-million capitation program for Medicaid recipients is planned for the Los Angeles area in cooperation with the local chapter of the National Medical Assn.

Announced from the floor of the House of Delegates as NMA members met in convention in Atlanta, the program was originally proposed by the Charles R. Drew chapter of NMA.

Philip Smith, MD, chairman of the California delegation, said he had been notified that California's Division of Health Services has approved the pilot project and signed a two-year contract. It will be implemented within 60-90 days.

DR. SMITH later told a news conference that the program goal is to provide comprehensive health care—including hospital costs—for the 100,000 Medicaid recipients in the Los Angeles area at less cost to the state.

He said the initial premium to be paid by the state will be about $25 per month. Negotiations are now in progress, Dr. Smith said, to re-insure the premium.

Dr. Smith said any physician in the Los Angeles area who wishes to participate may do so, whether or not he is a member of the Charles R. Drew Medical Society. However, his billings will be subject to the peer and utilization review mechanisms of the society.

THE PROGRAM, the work of the Charles Drew Society, was 18 months in the planning stage, Dr. Smith said. 

Dr. Smith estimated that between 300-400 physicians will participate.

National Health Insurance

The National Medical Assn. has called for a reappraisal of its stands on national health insurance.

NMA, spokesmen say, endorses the concept of comprehensive health care coverage but needs to know more about all the plans before endorsing any one.

Some NMA delegates took exception to statements by former President Julius Hill, MD, in joint testimony by NMA and the American Medical Association before Congress last June.

AT THAT TIME, Dr. Hill recommended replacement of Medicaid with a federally subsidized health insurance system. The AMA's Medicredit bill is one such system.

However, delegates at NMA's 75th anniversary convention in Atlanta, charged that the statement was made without consulting appropriate NMA committees.

A year earlier, during their annual convention at San Francisco, delegates endorsed the concept of a "universal, comprehensive health insurance" program as proposed by the late Walter Reuther.

THE REUTHER proposal was then nothing more than a concept. Since the unveiling of some of its details, there are enough reservations to make NMA want to take a second look.

One aspect of the Reuther proposal that will be looked into, a NMA spokesman said, would be the effect of eliminating the private health insurance industry.

Andrew Thomas, MD, secretary to the House of Delegates, said that while NMA does not have the capability to formulate any specific plan of its own, it does have the capability to scrutinize the proposals before Congress and to make known its views on these.

PAST PRESIDENTS OF THE NMA

* Robert F. Boyd, M.D., Nashville, Tenn....1895-1897
* H. T. Noel, M.D. Nashville, Tennessee...1898-1900
* O. D. Porter, M.D., Bowling Green, Ky. ...1901-1902
* F. A. Stewart, M.D., Nashville, Tennessee...1903
* Charles V. Roman, M.D., Dallas, Texas.......1904
* John E. Hunter, M.D., Lexington, Kentucky....1905
* R. E. Jones, M.D., Richmond, Virginia.......1906
* Nathan F. Mossell, M.D., Philadelphia, Pa. ..1907
* W. H. Wright, M.D., Baltimore, Maryland.....1908
* P. A. Johnson, M.D., New York, New York.....1909
* Marcus F. Wheatland, M.D., Newport, R.I.....1910
* Austin M. Curtis, M.D., Washington D.C......1911
* H. F. Gamble, M.D., Charleston, W. Va. .....1912
* John A. Kenny, Sr., M.D., Tuskegee Inst., Ala. ......1913
* A. M. Brown, M.D., Birmingham, Ala. ...1914
* F. S. Hargraves, M.D., Wilson, North Carolina...1915
* Ulysses G. Dailey, M.D., Chicago, Illinois..1916
* D. W. Byrd M.D., Norfolk, Va. .......1917
* Geo. W. Cabaniss, M.D., Washington, D.C. ...1918
* D. A. Ferguson, M.D., Richmond, Virginia....1919
* J. W. Jones, M.D., Winston-Salem, N.C. .....1920
* John P. Turner, M.D., Philadelphia, Pa. ...1921
* H. M. Green, M.D., Knoxville, Tennessee.....1922
* J. Edward Perry, M.D., Kansas City, Mo. ....1923
* John O. Plummer, M.D., Raleigh, N.C. .......1924
* Michael O. Dumas, M.D., Washington, D.C. ...1925
* Walter G. Alexander, M.D., Orange, N.J. ....1926
* Carl G. Roberts, M.D., Chicago, Illinois....1927
* C. V. Freeman, M.D., Jacksonville, Florida...1928
* T. Spotuas Burwell, M.D., Philadelphia, Pa. ......1929
* L. A. West, M.D., Memphis, Tennessee.........1930
* W. H. Higgins, M.D., Providence, R.I. .......1931
Peter M. Murray, M.D., New York, N.Y. ......1932
* G. Hamilton Francis, M.D., Norfolk, Virginia...1933
* Midian O. Bousefield, M.D., Chicago, Illinois...1934
* John H. Hale, M.D., Nashville, Tennessee....1935
* W. Harry Barnes, M.D., Philadelphia, Pa. ...1936
Roscoe C. Giles, M.D., Chicago, Illinois......1937
* Lyndon M. Hill, M.D., Atlanta, Georgia......1938
* George W. Bowles, M.D., York, Pa. ....1939
* Albert W. Dumas, Sr., M.D., Natchez, Miss. .....1940
Arthur N. Vaughn, M.D., St. Louis, Missouri...1941
* Henry Eugene Lee, M.D., Houston, Texas......1942
T. Manuel Smith, M.D., Chicago, Illinois......1943
* Emory I. Robinson, M.D., Los Angeles, Calif. ......1944-1945
Walter A. Younge, M.D., St Louis, Missouri....1946
* J. A. C. Lattimore, M.D., Louisville, Ky. ......1947
* C. Austin Whittier, M.D., San Antonio, Texas...1948
C. Herbert Marshall, M.D., Washington, D.C. ......1949
* Henry H. Walker, M.D., Nashville, Tenn. ....1950
* Joseph C. Gathings, M.D., Washington, D.C. ....1951
Whittier C. Atkinson, M.D., Coatesville, Pa. ....1952
A. Porter Davis, M.D., Kansas City, Kansas....1953
Matthew Walker, M.D., Nashville, Tennessee....1954
A. C. Terrence, M.D., Opelousas, Louisiana....1955
T. R. M. Howard, M.D., Chicago, Illinois......1956
Arthur M. Townsend, M.D., St Louis, Mo. ......1957
* R. Stillmon Smith, M.D., Macon, Georgia.....1958
Edward C. Mazique, M.D., Washington, D.C. ....1959
* James T. Aldrich, M.D., St Louis, Missouri....1960
Vaughan C. Mason, M.D., New York, N.Y. .......1961
John A. Kennedy, Jr., M.D., Washington, D.C. .......1962
Kenneth W. Clement, M.D. Cleveland, Ohio......1963
W. Montague Cobb, M.D., Washington, D.C.......1964
Leonidas H. Berry, M.D., Chicago, Illinois....1965
John L. S. Holloman, Jr., M.D., New York, New York...1966
Lionel F. Swan, M.D., Detroit, Michigan.......1967
James M. Whittico, Jr., M.D., St Louis, Mo. .......1968
Julius W. Hill, M.D., Los Angeles, Calif. .......1969

* Deceased

It's Philadelphia in 1971! NMA Convention