title: On reading the federal budget.
abstract: Within the scientific community there seem to be at least two schools of thought as far as the federal budget is concerned. One holds that more money would be made available for research if only spokesmen for research could gain access to high government officials. The other view is that the research budget of the United States reflects well-considered policy and cannot be changed by friendly persuasion. Rashi Fein, professor of the economics of medicine at Harvard Medical School, believes the latter. He expressed his point of view recently in an address before the American Public Health Association. His remarks were directed to last year's budget but apply equally to the President's budget for fiscal 1975. Excerpts from his talk, "The new national health spending policy-who pays and who gets?" follow.