Wednesday, May 16, 1962 University Daily Kansan
Page 5
Old Folks Operating Pressure Groups Which Affect Medicare
WASHINGTON — (UFI) The politics of medical care for the aging is building up another big political pressure group in the United States from which more is likely to be heard rather than less.
ANYONE WHO REMEMBERS the Townsend Old Age Pension Plan (TOAPF) that bloomed in the 1930s will have some idea of what the old folks can do when organized. The old folks fell for TOAPF with a whoop of delight. Headquarters was in Los Angeles.
They kept the heat on Congress so that it has been customary since for Congress to regularly hike Social Security payments, usually in election years. All of that was nearly 30 years ago. The old folk have not had much if any organization or leadership since Dr. Townsend disappeared.
Great sums of money accumulated there. The old folks showered down with their $1 and $2 bills and an occasional $5. TOAFP held its own national political convention in 1936 in the great Cleveland hall just vacated by the Republicans, who had nominated Alf M. Landon for President.
Dr. Townsend presided at that convention, tall and serious and happy in the belief that he was about to obtain a $200-a-month federal pension for every olderster in the land. When Rev. Gerald L. K. Smith ended his speech, which was an appeal for contributions, the old folks stormed the stage filling hats and buckets with $1 and $2 bills.
THE TOWNSEND OLD AGE Pension Plan was a major factor in persuading Congress to enact social security legislation. That legislation disorganized TOAPP but did not wholly quiet the old folks.
The medicare dispute is changing that. Operating now in Washington at an address conveniently close to the U.S. capitol where the medicare votes will be cast is the National Council of Senior Citizens. This organization representing the oldsters is committed to the Kennedy administration plan for medicare through Social Security.
23 Pledge Frats In Spring Rush
Twenty-three men have pledged 13 social fraternities in the first formal spring rush for men at KU.
The fraternities and their new pledges are:
Alpha Tau Omega: Paul Francis Anderson, Chanute sophomore; Charles Clinton Schooler, Leawood freshman, and Robert Murray Vance, Seminole, Okla., sophomore.
Alpha Kappa Lambda: David Marc Tan Creti, Carroll, Ia., freshman.
Delta Sigma Phi: Richard Lee Meyer, Washington sophomore.
Delta Chi: Rodney D. Wessel, Kansas City sophomore, and Ronald Dean Wright, Independence, Mo., freshman.
Delta Tau Delta: Robert H. Cox,
McDonald freshman, and Robert W.
Murphy, Shawnee Mission freshman,
Delta Upsilon: Doyle Eugene White. Arkansas City freshman
Kappa Sigma: Roger Rundle, Clay Center freshman; John C. Maloney, Lawrence freshman, and Marshall William Brier, Overland Park freshman.
Lambda Chi Alpha: Thomas A. Dozier, Herington freshman; Charles Schwab, Shawnee Mission sophomore; Russell L. Rogers, McDonald freshman, and Lawrence C. Christy, Hintsdale, Ill., freshman.
Phi Kappa Tau: George Martin Kerwin, Webster Groves, Mo., freshman.
Pi Kagpa Alpha: William Whitings
East Harpton, N. Y., freshman.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon: James Edward Mever, Alton, Ill., freshman.
Tau Kappa Epsilon: William Burk-
lund Villee II, Lawrence freshman,
and John Charles Harbaugh, St.
Louis, Mc., sophomore.
Triangle: Jon Wallace Hope, Kansas City freshman.
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ITS POLITICAL BASE COULD be enormous. It could be as great, for example, as is the political base of organized labor. Given organization locally and nationally, the old folk could become a balance of power vote in many elections.
In that role, the old folk could dictate to political parties as organized labor groups dictate. In 1955 there were in the United States just more than 14 million persons aged 65 years or more. In March of 1960 this number had grown to 15.6 million.
The statistical abstract of the United States says there were in this country in 1959 236,818 physicians, 100,615 dentists, and (in 1958) 460,000
registered nurses. The medical profession is well organized and better able than the old folk to get its story to the people.
BUT THE OLD FOLK have the administration going for them in this political contest. The Kennedy administration can reach the people more easily, oftener and with more impact than can the embattled medicines. The two sides are not evenly balanced.
Medicare may be defeated at this session of Congress. But practical politicians know it is on the way. It is the misfortune of the Republican Party that in major domestic policy disputes, the Democrats are supported by pressure groups, potential or in being.
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