Group Health Upheld

The Supreme Court this week gave a body blow to the American Medical Association and a hefty lift to the idea of group prepaid medical care, a scheme A.M.A. had fought tooth & nail.

In a 6-to-0 decision* the Court upheld the April 1941 conviction of A.M.A. and its Washington affiliate of violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The organizations were fined $2,500 and $1,500 respectively for influencing physicians and hospitals to boycott Group Health Association, Inc., to which 3,300 Government workers in the District of Columbia belong.

The Court's opinion, written by Justice Owen J. Roberts, held that 1) Group Health was a "business" and thus entitled to the protection of the Sherman Act, 2) the A.M.A. was not exempt from prosecution under the act. For sponsors of the group medicine principle, the decision was a breath of new life.

*Not participating: Justices Frank Murphy an Robert H. Jackson, both Attorneys General during the course of the legal proceedings, which were instituted originally by the Government.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.