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MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NINETY-FIRST CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

ON

AN INVESTIGATION OF REPORTED PLANS BY THE
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
AND THE ADMINISTRATION TO CLOSE ALL OF
NATION'S U.S. PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE HOSPITALS AND
CLINICS

THE

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Labor-Management Maritime Committee:

Legislative history of PHS beneficiary enactments from "Medical
and Hospital Care for Merchant Seamen," volume 1, pages

40-42.

The Nation's health crisis_.

Murphy, Hon. John M., table giving bed availability of VA hospitals_
Communications submitted by-

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Adams Hon. Brock, letter dated January 7, 1971 with 4 other Wash-
ington State members.

Baker, Hon. Howard H., with four others, letters dated Janu-
ary 12, 1971..

97

Brinkley, Gorman G., director, Virginia Council on Alcoholism &
Drug Dependence, Inc., letter dated December 23, 1970____

41

Communications submitted by-Continued

Butler, Jack, M.D., acting director, Federal Health Programs Service;
letters dated:

September 23, 1969, to Senator Spong-----

January 28, 1970, to Senator Spong---

August 10, 1970, enclosing listing of contract physician offices
and hospitals..

Clark, Earl W., letters dated:

December 2, 1970, to Hon. Harley O. Staggers__.

December 21, 1970, enclosing data on PHS hospitals and clinics--
Curran, Joseph, and Spyros S. Skouras, cochairman, Labor-Manage-
ment Maritime Committee, telegram dated December 22, 1970_.
Davidson, Richardson J., executive vice president, Maryland Hospital
Association, telegram dated December 22, 1970-

Egeberg, Roger O., M.D., letters dated:

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45

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE HOSPITAL CLOSING

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1970

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES,

Washington, D.C.

The committee met at 10 a.m., pursuant to call, in room 1334, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Edward A. Garmatz (chairman of the committee) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will please come to order.

The committee has called as a witness the Honorable Elliot L. Richardson, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, to report on recent information that the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and the administration are planning to close all of the Nation's U.S. Public Health Service hospitals.

In my letter yesterday to the Secretary, I told him I was very concerned about this possibility and that other members of the committee joined me in this view. I, therefore, thought it was essential to have the Secretary report to the committee about his intentions in closing these hospitals. I might add in this respect that neither I nor my staff were able to get information about the proposed closing of these hospitals from anyone else in the Department despite intensive efforts to get this information.

In calling this hearing, it should be understood that the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries has responsibility for the welfare of merchant seamen and Coast Guard families. In the 89th Congress our committee held hearings on the announced plans to close Public Health Service hospitals in Chicago, Memphis, Savannah, Boston, Galveston, Norfolk, and Detroit.

In our report (H. Rept. 610, 89th Congress) we stated it did not appear that adequate study had been given either to the desirability or practicability of closing the Public Health Service hospitals, or to the concomitant obligation of providing adequate and acceptable hospital care and treatment to PHS beneficiaries. We also reported that the Comptroller General had found it to be illegal to close the PHS facilities and substitute the use of Veterans' Administration facilities. As a result of these hearings the committee concluded that whatever justification existed for permitting our PHS program to pass the danger point, it was time to make plans not to close hospitals, but to upgrade, modernize and expand our remaining PHS hospitals in an effort to carry out the statutory responsibility of providing the best possible medical care and treatment to beneficiaries who are entitled to such by law.

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