Military dependent medical care during World War II

Dependent medical care at Army expense or at Army facilities during World War II was offered only on an emergency basis and at the discretion of the facility commanding officer. This had been the practice since 1884 when such care was specifically authorized by Congressional appropriation. Mobilization in 1898 and 1917 had brought a large number of state militiamen or inductees into the army--men who could leave their families behind. When mobilization began again in 1940, it was thought that a similar procedure would be followed. Events, however, overwhelmed the system as commanders of Army bases faced large numbers of young, pregnant wives who had followed their husbands. This had happened, in part, because of the dislocations of the Great Depression and, in part, because the wives of military inductees hoped to find work close to where their husbands were stationed. Although dependent medical care was not increased in proportion to the numbers of new dependents brought in by the war mobilization, medical care was provided for the four lower grades under the Emergency Maternity and Infant Care section of the Social Security Act of 1935. Subsequent to World War II and the experience of the Korean War, Congress saw it fit to specifically authorize medical care for dependents of military personnel as part of the soldiers' terms of employment, as a device to stimulate retention in service of both soldiers and doctors. In 1956 the United States Congress established the right at law of military dependents to medical care as specified in the Dependents' Medical Care Act.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)