Reforms Are Urged to Lower Individual Cost By "Group Medicine"

In an informal talk on "American Medicine: Today and Tomorrow" in the Lowell House Common Room last night, Dr. Hugh Cabot of the Mayo Clinic urged that the cost of medical care be reduced by extending "group medicine."

He said that a large number of Americans don't receive adequate medical attention: "Medicine has become so complicated and so involved that specialization with all of its expenses has greatly increased." The average individual would have to pay $75 for a proper year's care, which runs close to $300 for a family of four people, Dr. Cabot continued.

Group Medicine Cuts Costs

By so called "group medicine" many major costs of medicine could be eliminated, he stated. Group medicine is the combination of several doctors, using the same hospitals and laboratories, and provides complete care to patients for a low yearly rate. "It doesn't necessitate Federal control," he explained.

A leader in his profession and a specialist at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Cabot criticized those doctors who have objected to group medicine. "The American Medical Association dreads a change in the routine to which over a long number of years they have grown accustomed.