Abstract
Since World War II, there has been a growing public concern with the organization and the financing of medical care. | While modem medicine became a better and a more scientific product than formerly, its growing importance in the lives of all the people of the United States substantially contributed to making its administrative and fiscal aspects an expanding area of controversy. | With such developments, medical care moved into the forefront of public-policy debate. And yet today, there is every Indication that the many difficult issues surrounding this complex field will remain at the center of public affairs for a long time. It is the general purpose of this thesis to contribute to public understanding of these important issues by historical review. | The problems viewed in this thesis are not amenable to easy solutions, and the author does not pretend to have discovered such solutions--nor is that his purpose. On the contrary, the problems here presented may be expected to require continuous attention and policy decisions from numerous public and private sources for many years to come. These problems are, therefore, appropriate subjects for widespread study and thought. I hope that the historical treatment of them in this thesis will contribute toward enlightenment, discussion, and sound public policy in a difficult field.