THE first communication is on "Health Insurance in Canada from the Paediatric View" by Dr. John Keith with an introductory letter from Dr. Alan Brown. In 1943, the Canadian Medical Association approved the principle of health insurance and set forth the opinion that health insurance programs should be developed by the various provinces in accordance with their local needs (J. Pediat. 31:228, Aug., 1947). In the intervening years some provinces have developed quite comprehensive programs of medical care (Pediatrics 7:430, 1951) whereas other provinces have taken very little action. The present communication describes these endeavors from the viewpoint of the pediatrician.
The second communication from Dr. John T. Fulton, Dental Services Adviser of the U. S. Children's Bureau, describes his observations of New Zealand's National Dental Service. The medical care program in New Zealand has received wide publicity; the National Dental Service, which was inaugurated much earlier, has received relatively little comment until recently.
The dental care problem everywhere is enormous. Children of school age average to develop one new caries lesion per year. The dental manpower currently available in this country does not begin to be adequate to deal with the problem; the result is that the majority of children enter adult life with a large accumulation of dental defects.
The effect of private health insurance on medical care utilization and self-assessed health in Germany