Marine Hospital - Free Healthcare For US Mariners?

It was a long time publication of the PHS. Our Director (in those days the PHS Ranks had old traditional names and his was “Medical Director”, which was a 4 stripe rank…nowadays they call them “Captains” in the PHS I hear) was Dr. N.C. Leone, who was a long-time career PHS physician. As I recall, he took over the editing of that PHS book when he was at Galveston. And I’m sure it’s been through a lot of editions and revisions since, but at one time his name was on it.

I’ve known a few of them from my time on NOAA ships. They have adopted Navy pay scales and Coast Guard uniforms like the NOAA Corps officers. The main function of PHS with NOAA these days are the required physicals and to make sure the ships sick bay is well stocked. They are also on call for any medical emergencies we may have while at sea. I believe the ships working out of Hawaii have a PHS officer on board full time.

During my PHS service, the most UN-desirable cruise rotation for a guy to draw was to one of the N. Atlantic CG “Ocean Stations”, especially Alpha (the northern most) in winter! They all had a PHS medical officer aboard for those “cruises” if you can call holding station in the N. Atlantic for 60-80 days aboard a CG HEC a “cruise.” Those Ocean Stations are long gone now and you’d probably have to give a young guy quite a background explanation as to why they were even necessary, but a medical officer was considered to be a necessity as part of the back-up they provided. Seldom used, thankfully, but reassuring to air and marine traffic in those days.

Yes, they really did exist for over 100 years! I used them myself a few times until Reagan eliminated the use of them by mariners (who the entire system was created for). They came back, but only for poor people to use, not the mariners they were intended to serve.

From the intro of “American Merchant Seaman’s Manual, 7th ed.”

I guess in 2003, when this edition was published they over looked the fact that the government defunded our healthcare.

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about 2003 NOAA had us go to a regular health plan with the monthly dues. Prior to that we had free medical and dental. (FREE) Aboard ship it was USPHS (still is) but ashore we went to a regular hospital/dentist, and it wasn’t hardly the “lowest bidder” either.
Ha Ha WillyJP, , yes, those light house ships, navigation ships, incidental assignment ships where they sat for days/weeks & OMG ,
Scuttlebut was that the “improved” version cost the govt. more money? It use to be totally free, I have always believed, because the ships were out there 10 months of the year and if anyone got a cold, or the flue etc. EVERYONE got it… perhaps it was more economical to treat the whole crew?

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or maybe it was that way in the US Forest Service and all the others back in the day?

“Take advantage of trainjng offered by the Maritime Administration”

Appart from Kings Point… what training does MARAD offer?

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Blockquote

I believe that’s just the first of 3 listed.

MARAD closed GMATS several years ago. They also closed their Great Lakes Fire School with its $100 STCW Basic and Advanced Firefighting course about two years ago.

They used to have the firefighting school at Freehold NJ, MARAD’s function there has almost been completely subsumed by MSC.

From the mid-seventies until they closed them in 1981 I was treated at a number of the USPHS “Marine” hospitals / clinics in New Orleans, Norfolk, Port Arthur, and San Francisco. Being a Navy brat it was just like the medical care I had received all my life. You show up, wait your turn and saw a doctor. Ironically, since they were closed for alleged budgetary reasons, they had the lowest cost per patient treated of any federally operated hospital. Lower than the VA, military, etc. hospitals. So of course when they were shut down the facility in Norfolk on Hampton Blvd. became a Navy / government workers clinic.

A often overlooked and important function of the Marine hospitals, and large factor in their establishment, was that they were experts in foreign diseases due to having almost 200 years of experience dealing with exotic, and frequently highly communicable infections that mariners would contract and preventing these infections from spreading to the public at large. More than one seaman criss-crossed the globe, seeing doctor after doctor, with an intractable case of the clap to have it finally cured by the USPHS hospital staff.

I am pretty sure this wouldn’t have happened if the Marine hospital system was still in existence in the mid-90s. We made a trip to Lagos Nigeria with a load of JP-5. The company failed to supply the ship with anti-malarial medicine for the voyage (something the USPHS would have advised the Master to do when they came on board to administer the required immunizations for the voyage.) On the voyage from Nigeria to New Orleans the Chief Steward became very ill and was in a near coma state when we got to SW Pass. He was taken off the ship when we docked in New Orleans. It took the doctors in the hospital to determine that he had one of the most virulent strains of malaria. We all said, after the fact, that if the Marine hospital was still on State Street they would have diagnosed it immediately.

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That’s where I took my Basic and Advanced FF. So, does this mean it’s no longer open for everyone?

They permanently closed the fire school. All gone. Excuses include EPA clean air and water rules, and changing priorities.

I bet the for profit schools were lobbying Congressmen to close it.

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Until fairly recently they operated a firefighting school in the Great Lakes, and GMATS not too long ago.

Before the last ice age, they operated radar schools (until the mid 80s). I took my first radar renewal at a MARAD school at Seaman’s Church in New York, when they were still located at the Battery. But at the time the outdated, unrevised statement about mariner health care in LI Domer’s pic was still true, the radar schools were still being operated by MARAD (but GMATS wasn’t, or not as “GMATS”).

At one time, there was a MARAD employee as one of the instructors at Earle. After he left (death or retirement, I forget which), he was not replaced and now MARAD’s involvement is to reimburse MSC for a portion of the per capita cost to train the student it refers there (mostly academy cadets).

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I’d be surprised if that were the case. Generally, the for profit schools don’t have significant influence with Congress. They can get them to send a letter or two to the Coast Guard, but not much more. And the bigger firefighting schools (e.g. Texas A&M, Resolve) make most of their money from shore based professional firefighters. Mariners are a relatively small part of their business. More likely, it was just a cost cutting measure recognizing that the private sector more than adequately meets the need. And environmental regulations are indeed a factor, that’s why there are no schools in the Pacific Northwest, but quite a few in states with less stringent environmental policies.

I’d consider tugsailors argument: uscg doesn’t like dealing with licensing and requirements. liability shifts when moved to a ‘for profit’ concern. And as Tug says, profit … well, follow the money…always!!
I took basic and advanced in Diego at a msc facility about '99.

I remember that perk. It was called Beneficiary Medical Plan or just BMP.

ya, it was pretty impressive when they asked what insurance we had !!!, i wonder if the ‘new improved’ plan really costs more than BMP.

About two years ago, I called the MARAD Great Lakes Fire School to inquire about the course schedule; it was just a few days after they ran the last class. They specifically mentioned the need for costly improvements to comply with environmental regulations as the primary reason for closing the school.