Fishbein Hits Health Plans At Med Forum

Dr. Morris Fishbein, editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, lashed out against socialized medicine yesterday afternoon at the Health Forum of the School of Public Health.

Speaking on "Health and Social Security" in the meeting at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Fishbein stated that establishment of a compulsory sickness insurance system in this country would "inevitably degrade and deteriorate" the medical profession.

Cannot Retrace Steps

Fishbein, who is a leader in the fight against government-directed health programs, went on to state that "once a nation has embarked on such a program, the ability to retrace the steps becomes less and less with every year that passes."

He cited the adoption of a National Health Act in England, claiming that "the service has been marked by utter inability of the doctors, the hospitals, the pharmacists, or the dentists to meet the demands placed on them by people who wanted simply to find out how the system works."