- Email: [email protected]
Washington Report
1536 • J . A M ER . DENT. A S S N .: V o l. 70, June 1965
Three members o f the W ashing ton S tate House o f Representatives have close ties w ith d e ntistry. Shown (from le ft) are Charles Newschwander (R -Tacom a), m em ber o f th e Pierce C oun ty Den ta l S ociety; Mrs. O d d Valle (D -S e a ttle ), w ife o f Dr. Valle, m em ber o f th e S eattle D is tric t Dental Society, and Elmer Jastad (D -M o rto n ), pharm a cist and fa th e r o f Donald Jastad, m em ber o f the Pierce C oun ty Dental S ociety
tion is open to those w ho “contribute to the advancem ent of th e objectives of this Association.” Dues for associate m em bership are $10 annually an d include a subscription
to T h e Journal. Associate members can, in addition, attend the annual sessions of the ADA w ithout paym ent of registra tion fees and m ay avail themselves of the services of the bureaus of Library and Indexing Service, Audiovisual Service, Economic Research and Statistics, D en tal H ealth E ducation and Public In formation. A pplications for associate membership may be obtained from the Bureau of M em bership Records, American D ental Association, 222 E. Superior Street, Chicago 60611. DEDICATION OF NEW ASSOCIATION B U ILD IN G SC HED U LED FEB. 27
Chicago: T h e ADA Board of Trustees has established February 27, 1966, as the date for dedication of the new Associa tion headquarters building. Details of the dedication program have not been worked out, although the place m ent of the time capsule will be one of the m ain events.
REPORT FROM THE WASHINGTON OFFICE O n April 29, the Senate Finance Com m ittee opened its hearings on H R 6675, the Social Security bill th a t has am ong its provisions a program placing health care of the aged u nder Social Security. Some observers expected the hearings to be protracted both because Chairm an H arry F. Byrd (D -V a.) was opposed to the health care of the aged provisions and because substantial portions of the bill had not received open hearings in the House. I t becam e clear early th a t this was not to be so. Sessions were limited to about two weeks and witnesses gen erally were asked to confine their oral testimony to no m ore than 15 minutes. T h e unspoken premise underlying the hearings was th a t proponents of the bill have sufficient Senate votes to pass it
substantially as is. If no one a t the hear ings said this in so m any words, neither was it directly contradicted. In its testimony on M ay 7, the Ameri can D ental Association concentrated its attention on two points. First, it em pha sized once more the inaccurate assump tions and m istaken premises behind the move to place health care of the aged under Social Security, principally th a t of providing care w ithout regard to need. Second, and subsidiary to its basic objec tions, it noted th a t the bill was both incomplete and inequitable w hen con sidered from a professional point of view. In regard to this latter point, the As sociation pointed out th a t if a beneficiary selected a dentist rath e r th an a physician to perform oral surgery covered under
NEWS O F DENTISTRY - 1537
M O S T S TU D E N TS ADA MEMBERS
Chicago: Figures as of D ecem ber 31, 1964, indicate th a t 35 of 48 dental schools in th e U nited States have greater th an 90 p er cent student mem bership in the American D ental Association. Tw enty-one dental schools show 100 per cent student membership.
Legislation S E N A TE C O M M ITTE E HEARS ADA’S O BJECTIO NS TO MEDICARE B ILL
Washington, DC: The American Dental Asso ciation recently voiced its opposition to HR 6675, the well-known medicare bill, when I. Lawrence Kerr, a member of the ADA Council on Legislation, testified before the Senate Committee on Finance. He was accompanied by Bernard Conway, assistant secretary for legal affairs of the Amer ican Dental Association. Dr. K err initiated his testimony by stating that the ADA “is well aware of the fact that there is a serious problem regarding the health
care of the aged, that the problem has not yet been entirely solved and that the federal gov ernment has a proper role to play in such a solution. “The solution envisioned by Part I, Title I of H R 6675, however, is one that the Associa tion considers to be unnecessary and imprudent and we consequently oppose passage of HR 6675 in its present form,” he added. Dr. Kerr said that the opposition is two fold: first, that many of the principles under lying the payroll-tax supported hospital and medical-care plans are mistaken ones, espe cially, the principle of extending care without any regard for need. The second objection is that the new KerrMills type plan as drawn is, from a professional point of view, incomplete and fails to carry out the recommendation made by President John son in his January 7 health message to Con gress about dental care for needy children. In pursuing the first point of objection, Dr. Kerr stressed that there was nothing unreason able in the ADA’s proposition that those who have resources to be self-sufficient should be expected to be self-sufficient. Commenting on the public assistance expan sion, Dr. Kerr said that dentists know from experience that there are children who do not receive adequate dental care because their
Senate Finance Committee Looks A t Medicare the bill, he would be denied this benefit since only physicians and osteopaths are contained w ithin the bill’s definition of a doctor. T h e Association noted th a t this dis crim ination could be remedied w ithout enlarging the scope of the measure. Sen. A braham A. Ribicoff (D -C o n n .), a Com m ittee m em ber and form er Secretary of H ealth, Education and W elfare, took up this point in his questions and later a n nounced th a t he would move to am end the bill in line w ith the Association’s views. Sen. Frank Carlson (R -K a n .), a Com m ittee m em ber and an honorary m em ber of the Association, said he shared his colleague’s viewpoint. Both senators also took sympathetic note of the second professional deficiency in the bill to w hich the Association called
attention. This relates to those sections of the measure authorizing assistance to states to establish health programs for needy children under the K err-M ills pro gram. U n der the terms of the bill, dental care would not be one of the benefits required in such a program . T he Associa tion pointed out th at lack of dental care is one of the m ajor problems facing youngsters from poor families and said it should be included. In this instance as well, Senator R ibi coff announced he would submit am end m ents in consonance with the Associa tion’s views. T h e Finance Committee was expected to conclude its open hearings by M ay 19 an d the bill will probably be going to the Senate floor by m id-June.
1538 • J . A M ER . DENT. AS S N .: V o l. 70, June 1965
families cannot afford it. “Certainly, such children are entitled to assistance,” he said. But, he added, “it does not follow that a massive federal health benefits program should be established which would also include the many millions of children whose families are self-sufficient.” Dr. Kerr went on: “We finally believe that the proponents of these plans fail to recognize the impact the Kerr-Mills program has had and could continue to have. Admittedly, the Kerr-Mills program is not free from defects. It needs perfecting amendments by Congress and fuller and more imaginative implementa tion by the states. But it has demonstrated its soundness; it has shown its basic capability for doing the job without at the same time embark ing our nation on an unwarranted and ir reversible course.” He pointed out that the hospital and medi cal care plans of H R 6675 are ill conceived and unnecessarily single out a segment of the population even though many persons within that segment have no need for assistance. “The Association also has serious profes sional objections to provisions of Part B of Title 1, Supplementary Health Benefits for the Aged,” Dr. Kerr went on. “The drafters of the bill ignored the fact that no sound comprehen sive health benefits plan can be written without the inclusion of some benefits that are within the scope of dental practice. They also ignored the fact that today practically all health in surance plans in the private sector recognize the right of dentists to perform oral surgical procedures and include a dentist within the definition of ‘doctor’ or ‘physician’ under such plans. “All contracts under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Act which is administered by the United States Civil Service Commission
contain provisions permitting beneficiaries to select dentists to perform covered oral surgical services,” he said. Dr. Kerr stressed that there would appear to be no valid reason why, in the Supplemen tary Benefits portion of HR 6675, the govern ment should depart from a pattern that is so well recognized and so firmly established in the private insurance field. “To do so is unsound from the health stand point and discriminatory against program ben eficiaries and dental practitioners,” he told the Committee. INCREASE OF DENTAL RESEARCH FU N DS REQUESTED BY ADA
Washington, DC: Recent ADA testimony before the HEW subcommittee of the Appro priations Committee in the House discussed the fiscal 1966 appropriations for the National In stitute of Dental Research and for the Division of Dental Public Health and Resources. Testifying was Maynard K. Hine, dean of the Indiana University School of Dentistry and president-elect of the ADA, who spoke as rep resentative of both the ADA and the American Association of Dental Schools. He was accompanied by Hal Christensen, director of the ADA’s Washington office. Dr. Hine pointed out the relatively small appropriations allotted N IDR for research in relation to increased activity in dental research. “Dental research is now in a position to make gains of extraordinary significance dur ing the coming fiscal year, provided it receives the financial support to do so,” he said, adding: “I t is clear that in fiscal 1965 the profession’s capacity to establish, implement and expand meaningful programs of research in oral health outstripped by far the availability of support ing funds.” Subcommittee members were given three graphs which referred to the NID R research grants program and compared it with programs of the other institutes. The first graph concerned the number of research grants; the second, the amount of money annually devoted to research grants by each institute since 1956, and the third, the percentage of total N IH (National Institutes of Health) funds that each institute received from 1956 to 1964. In each case, N IDR ranked far below the others. “Based upon these considerations, the Ameri can Dental Association and the American As sociation of Dental Schools are convinced that the fiscal 1966 appropriations for research grants should be $19.8 million,” Dr. Hine said. Of this total, Dr. Hine added, $9.3 million
NEW S O F DENTISTRY • 1539
C harles P. Egoville (r ig h t), in com ing president, accepts the gavel from W a ld o G am ba, o u t g o in g president, as David Dyen, p re s id e n t-e le c t f o r 1966-67 looks on a t the annual business m eeting o f the Philadelphia C o u n ty Dental Society
is eq u iv alen t to th e fiscal 1965 bud g et and w ould rep resen t th e base fo r m ain tain in g c u r re n t levels of activity. A n a d d itio n al $4 m illion w ould be req u ired to elim inate the backlog of gran ts th a t w ere ap p ro v ed in fiscal 1965 b u t c an n o t be funded. T h e n e x t $5 m illion w ould be th e only funds available fo r a n tic ip a te d grow th in 1966, ac cording to D r. H ine, since the final $1.5 m illion w ould be a llo cated for in au g u ra tio n of develop m en tal g ra n ts fo r p lan n in g and im plem entation of interdisciplinary program s.
Dental Societies NEW DENTAL LAW IN ALASKA
Anchorage, Alaska: W illiam Egan, gov ernor of Alaska, has signed into law a bill perm itting licensed dentists to practice in cities and villages und er 3,000 population, or in isolated areas, w ithout taking the Alaska state dental board exam ination. I t is felt th a t this will help take care of the dental needs of those who cannot get to larger cities for dental care. URGES ADA TO ENFORCE 1961 RESOLUTION ON D ISC R IM IN A T IO N
N ew York City: T h e following resolution was unanim ously adopted by the Board of Governors of T h e D ental Society of the State of N ew York M ay 5 and will be transm itted to the ADA House of Delegates for consideration at the 106th annual session in Las Vegas:
“R E S O L V E D : T h a t T he D ental Soci ety of the State o f New York, in agree m ent w ith the American D ental Associa tion Board of Trustees th a t it is essential ‘to elim inate the allegation th a t it is tacitly cooperating w ith restrictive prac tices, by constituent and com ponent soci eties which, in reality do discrim inate in m em bership entrance on the basis of race, creed or color’ (Trans. ADA 1962, p. 344), hereby petitions the American D ental Association to take resolute action to enforce the actual intent of its 1961 resolution to prevent discrimination in m em bership entrance on the basis of race, creed or color, by “ 1. Advising all constituent and com ponent societies th at non-conform ance with th e spirit and the intent as well as the letter of the ADA Bylaws may lead to sanctions, including revocation of charter; and “ 2. Encouraging all members of the N ational D ental Association not at pres ent enrolled in the American Dental Association to submit applications for m em bership; and “3. Seeing to it th a t the 1961 state m ent of the American D ental Associa tion w ith regard to discrimination in constituent and com ponent society by laws is extended to insure th at no local subterfuge (such as inability to obtain sponsoring signatures) will allow such discrim ination.”
Three members o f the W ashing ton S tate House o f Representatives have close ties w ith d e ntistry. Shown (from le ft) are Charles Newschwander (R -Tacom a), m em ber o f th e Pierce C oun ty Den ta l S ociety; Mrs. O d d Valle (D -S e a ttle ), w ife o f Dr. Valle, m em ber o f th e S eattle D is tric t Dental Society, and Elmer Jastad (D -M o rto n ), pharm a cist and fa th e r o f Donald Jastad, m em ber o f the Pierce C oun ty Dental S ociety
tion is open to those w ho “contribute to the advancem ent of th e objectives of this Association.” Dues for associate m em bership are $10 annually an d include a subscription
to T h e Journal. Associate members can, in addition, attend the annual sessions of the ADA w ithout paym ent of registra tion fees and m ay avail themselves of the services of the bureaus of Library and Indexing Service, Audiovisual Service, Economic Research and Statistics, D en tal H ealth E ducation and Public In formation. A pplications for associate membership may be obtained from the Bureau of M em bership Records, American D ental Association, 222 E. Superior Street, Chicago 60611. DEDICATION OF NEW ASSOCIATION B U ILD IN G SC HED U LED FEB. 27
Chicago: T h e ADA Board of Trustees has established February 27, 1966, as the date for dedication of the new Associa tion headquarters building. Details of the dedication program have not been worked out, although the place m ent of the time capsule will be one of the m ain events.
REPORT FROM THE WASHINGTON OFFICE O n April 29, the Senate Finance Com m ittee opened its hearings on H R 6675, the Social Security bill th a t has am ong its provisions a program placing health care of the aged u nder Social Security. Some observers expected the hearings to be protracted both because Chairm an H arry F. Byrd (D -V a.) was opposed to the health care of the aged provisions and because substantial portions of the bill had not received open hearings in the House. I t becam e clear early th a t this was not to be so. Sessions were limited to about two weeks and witnesses gen erally were asked to confine their oral testimony to no m ore than 15 minutes. T h e unspoken premise underlying the hearings was th a t proponents of the bill have sufficient Senate votes to pass it
substantially as is. If no one a t the hear ings said this in so m any words, neither was it directly contradicted. In its testimony on M ay 7, the Ameri can D ental Association concentrated its attention on two points. First, it em pha sized once more the inaccurate assump tions and m istaken premises behind the move to place health care of the aged under Social Security, principally th a t of providing care w ithout regard to need. Second, and subsidiary to its basic objec tions, it noted th a t the bill was both incomplete and inequitable w hen con sidered from a professional point of view. In regard to this latter point, the As sociation pointed out th a t if a beneficiary selected a dentist rath e r th an a physician to perform oral surgery covered under
NEWS O F DENTISTRY - 1537
M O S T S TU D E N TS ADA MEMBERS
Chicago: Figures as of D ecem ber 31, 1964, indicate th a t 35 of 48 dental schools in th e U nited States have greater th an 90 p er cent student mem bership in the American D ental Association. Tw enty-one dental schools show 100 per cent student membership.
Legislation S E N A TE C O M M ITTE E HEARS ADA’S O BJECTIO NS TO MEDICARE B ILL
Washington, DC: The American Dental Asso ciation recently voiced its opposition to HR 6675, the well-known medicare bill, when I. Lawrence Kerr, a member of the ADA Council on Legislation, testified before the Senate Committee on Finance. He was accompanied by Bernard Conway, assistant secretary for legal affairs of the Amer ican Dental Association. Dr. K err initiated his testimony by stating that the ADA “is well aware of the fact that there is a serious problem regarding the health
care of the aged, that the problem has not yet been entirely solved and that the federal gov ernment has a proper role to play in such a solution. “The solution envisioned by Part I, Title I of H R 6675, however, is one that the Associa tion considers to be unnecessary and imprudent and we consequently oppose passage of HR 6675 in its present form,” he added. Dr. Kerr said that the opposition is two fold: first, that many of the principles under lying the payroll-tax supported hospital and medical-care plans are mistaken ones, espe cially, the principle of extending care without any regard for need. The second objection is that the new KerrMills type plan as drawn is, from a professional point of view, incomplete and fails to carry out the recommendation made by President John son in his January 7 health message to Con gress about dental care for needy children. In pursuing the first point of objection, Dr. Kerr stressed that there was nothing unreason able in the ADA’s proposition that those who have resources to be self-sufficient should be expected to be self-sufficient. Commenting on the public assistance expan sion, Dr. Kerr said that dentists know from experience that there are children who do not receive adequate dental care because their
Senate Finance Committee Looks A t Medicare the bill, he would be denied this benefit since only physicians and osteopaths are contained w ithin the bill’s definition of a doctor. T h e Association noted th a t this dis crim ination could be remedied w ithout enlarging the scope of the measure. Sen. A braham A. Ribicoff (D -C o n n .), a Com m ittee m em ber and form er Secretary of H ealth, Education and W elfare, took up this point in his questions and later a n nounced th a t he would move to am end the bill in line w ith the Association’s views. Sen. Frank Carlson (R -K a n .), a Com m ittee m em ber and an honorary m em ber of the Association, said he shared his colleague’s viewpoint. Both senators also took sympathetic note of the second professional deficiency in the bill to w hich the Association called
attention. This relates to those sections of the measure authorizing assistance to states to establish health programs for needy children under the K err-M ills pro gram. U n der the terms of the bill, dental care would not be one of the benefits required in such a program . T he Associa tion pointed out th at lack of dental care is one of the m ajor problems facing youngsters from poor families and said it should be included. In this instance as well, Senator R ibi coff announced he would submit am end m ents in consonance with the Associa tion’s views. T h e Finance Committee was expected to conclude its open hearings by M ay 19 an d the bill will probably be going to the Senate floor by m id-June.
1538 • J . A M ER . DENT. AS S N .: V o l. 70, June 1965
families cannot afford it. “Certainly, such children are entitled to assistance,” he said. But, he added, “it does not follow that a massive federal health benefits program should be established which would also include the many millions of children whose families are self-sufficient.” Dr. Kerr went on: “We finally believe that the proponents of these plans fail to recognize the impact the Kerr-Mills program has had and could continue to have. Admittedly, the Kerr-Mills program is not free from defects. It needs perfecting amendments by Congress and fuller and more imaginative implementa tion by the states. But it has demonstrated its soundness; it has shown its basic capability for doing the job without at the same time embark ing our nation on an unwarranted and ir reversible course.” He pointed out that the hospital and medi cal care plans of H R 6675 are ill conceived and unnecessarily single out a segment of the population even though many persons within that segment have no need for assistance. “The Association also has serious profes sional objections to provisions of Part B of Title 1, Supplementary Health Benefits for the Aged,” Dr. Kerr went on. “The drafters of the bill ignored the fact that no sound comprehen sive health benefits plan can be written without the inclusion of some benefits that are within the scope of dental practice. They also ignored the fact that today practically all health in surance plans in the private sector recognize the right of dentists to perform oral surgical procedures and include a dentist within the definition of ‘doctor’ or ‘physician’ under such plans. “All contracts under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Act which is administered by the United States Civil Service Commission
contain provisions permitting beneficiaries to select dentists to perform covered oral surgical services,” he said. Dr. Kerr stressed that there would appear to be no valid reason why, in the Supplemen tary Benefits portion of HR 6675, the govern ment should depart from a pattern that is so well recognized and so firmly established in the private insurance field. “To do so is unsound from the health stand point and discriminatory against program ben eficiaries and dental practitioners,” he told the Committee. INCREASE OF DENTAL RESEARCH FU N DS REQUESTED BY ADA
Washington, DC: Recent ADA testimony before the HEW subcommittee of the Appro priations Committee in the House discussed the fiscal 1966 appropriations for the National In stitute of Dental Research and for the Division of Dental Public Health and Resources. Testifying was Maynard K. Hine, dean of the Indiana University School of Dentistry and president-elect of the ADA, who spoke as rep resentative of both the ADA and the American Association of Dental Schools. He was accompanied by Hal Christensen, director of the ADA’s Washington office. Dr. Hine pointed out the relatively small appropriations allotted N IDR for research in relation to increased activity in dental research. “Dental research is now in a position to make gains of extraordinary significance dur ing the coming fiscal year, provided it receives the financial support to do so,” he said, adding: “I t is clear that in fiscal 1965 the profession’s capacity to establish, implement and expand meaningful programs of research in oral health outstripped by far the availability of support ing funds.” Subcommittee members were given three graphs which referred to the NID R research grants program and compared it with programs of the other institutes. The first graph concerned the number of research grants; the second, the amount of money annually devoted to research grants by each institute since 1956, and the third, the percentage of total N IH (National Institutes of Health) funds that each institute received from 1956 to 1964. In each case, N IDR ranked far below the others. “Based upon these considerations, the Ameri can Dental Association and the American As sociation of Dental Schools are convinced that the fiscal 1966 appropriations for research grants should be $19.8 million,” Dr. Hine said. Of this total, Dr. Hine added, $9.3 million
NEW S O F DENTISTRY • 1539
C harles P. Egoville (r ig h t), in com ing president, accepts the gavel from W a ld o G am ba, o u t g o in g president, as David Dyen, p re s id e n t-e le c t f o r 1966-67 looks on a t the annual business m eeting o f the Philadelphia C o u n ty Dental Society
is eq u iv alen t to th e fiscal 1965 bud g et and w ould rep resen t th e base fo r m ain tain in g c u r re n t levels of activity. A n a d d itio n al $4 m illion w ould be req u ired to elim inate the backlog of gran ts th a t w ere ap p ro v ed in fiscal 1965 b u t c an n o t be funded. T h e n e x t $5 m illion w ould be th e only funds available fo r a n tic ip a te d grow th in 1966, ac cording to D r. H ine, since the final $1.5 m illion w ould be a llo cated for in au g u ra tio n of develop m en tal g ra n ts fo r p lan n in g and im plem entation of interdisciplinary program s.
Dental Societies NEW DENTAL LAW IN ALASKA
Anchorage, Alaska: W illiam Egan, gov ernor of Alaska, has signed into law a bill perm itting licensed dentists to practice in cities and villages und er 3,000 population, or in isolated areas, w ithout taking the Alaska state dental board exam ination. I t is felt th a t this will help take care of the dental needs of those who cannot get to larger cities for dental care. URGES ADA TO ENFORCE 1961 RESOLUTION ON D ISC R IM IN A T IO N
N ew York City: T h e following resolution was unanim ously adopted by the Board of Governors of T h e D ental Society of the State of N ew York M ay 5 and will be transm itted to the ADA House of Delegates for consideration at the 106th annual session in Las Vegas:
“R E S O L V E D : T h a t T he D ental Soci ety of the State o f New York, in agree m ent w ith the American D ental Associa tion Board of Trustees th a t it is essential ‘to elim inate the allegation th a t it is tacitly cooperating w ith restrictive prac tices, by constituent and com ponent soci eties which, in reality do discrim inate in m em bership entrance on the basis of race, creed or color’ (Trans. ADA 1962, p. 344), hereby petitions the American D ental Association to take resolute action to enforce the actual intent of its 1961 resolution to prevent discrimination in m em bership entrance on the basis of race, creed or color, by “ 1. Advising all constituent and com ponent societies th at non-conform ance with th e spirit and the intent as well as the letter of the ADA Bylaws may lead to sanctions, including revocation of charter; and “ 2. Encouraging all members of the N ational D ental Association not at pres ent enrolled in the American Dental Association to submit applications for m em bership; and “3. Seeing to it th a t the 1961 state m ent of the American D ental Associa tion w ith regard to discrimination in constituent and com ponent society by laws is extended to insure th at no local subterfuge (such as inability to obtain sponsoring signatures) will allow such discrim ination.”