National Service for Health : the Labour Party's post-war policy
1943-04 1943 1940s 24 pages National Health Insurance It is sometimes suggested that the nation's need can be simply met by extending the National Health Insurance Scheme. That is a mistake, as will be seen if the principles of Health Insurance are compared with the principles of a nation-w...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
London : Labour Party
April 1943
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/307533B4-FA4B-444A-BD83-8B1F4D833377 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/3C82226D-E1D9-4FE3-8DF2-546774E8D7D9 |
| Summary: | 1943-04
1943
1940s
24 pages
National Health Insurance It is sometimes suggested that the nation's need can be simply met by extending the National Health Insurance Scheme. That is a mistake, as will be seen if the principles of Health Insurance are compared with the principles of a nation-wide Health Service such as is here proposed. The essence of any commercial insurance scheme, properly so-called, is that the insurer has to cover risks which he can calculate within a narrow margin of error ; the premiums payable by the insured must be determined in advance and must be paid regularly ; the insurance payments offered must be limited in amount and the treatment must be limited in character, and these benefits must be confined strictly to those who have paid the premium or are covered by it. On the other hand, the essence of a nation-wide Health Service is that it covers risks to health which cannot be exactly computed ; that the benefits it offers must include every kind of treatment needed by the patient, and must provide that treatment for as long as the doctor thinks necessary in the patient's interest; and that no one should be debarred from these vital services by poverty or any other cause. It was agreed at the outset that the Health Service which the nation needs must be preventive as well as curative, comprehensive, and open to all. That means that we are calling for something different in kind from an Insurance Scheme. We want the whole nation to be the insurer, and the whole nation to be the insured. What we want does not involve a mass of paper work, or filling-in of forms, or competitive offers of this and that special benefit as the reward for an increased premium. What we want, in short, is a comprehensive service for the health of the whole nation, provided by the nation, for the nation. Hospitals One more example must suffice. We have seen that the hospital system has grown up haphazard and without adequate co-ordination. We have estimated that in some respects the hospitals are much below the standard of efficiency and equipment that should now be required. It is clear that the voluntary hospitals have to base their policy upon the uncertain outcome of a competition for charity, and are subject to no public control. How is it possible, without some unified planning and control, to build up a hospital service that is well adjusted to the need of the nation as a whole? Surely the conclusion must be that public and voluntary hospitals alike must be brought within a National Health Service on equitable terms. SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS We said in the first chapter that the nation needs a Medical Service which is planned as a whole; we have seen that no authority is now in a position to make such a plan or to see that it is carried out. We said that the Service should be preventative as well as curative ; but we have seen that neither the system of paid private doctoring nor the National Health Insurance Scheme is in a position to deal adequately with the problems of prevention of ill-health. Only a salaried State Medical Service can do so. We said that the Service should be complete, covering all kinds of treatment required ; we have seen that it is far from complete and can only be made complete by State action. We said that the Service must be open to all, so that poverty shall be no bar to health ; and we have seen that this provision for the nation as a whole can only be made by the nation as a whole. We said that the Service must be efficient and up to date, providing for "team-work" and for convenient concentration of medical resources; but we have found that only the community can achieve this, by means of a health system which allows for a planned disposition of hospitals, doctors, etc. 13
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |