National Service for Health : the Labour Party's post-war policy
1943-04 1943 1940s 24 pages CAN WE AFFORD IT? The need for a comprehensive Medical Service is literally a "vital" need. We have given solid reasons why that need can only be met by a State Medical Service, nationally planned, locally administered, and financed out of public funds....
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
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London : Labour Party
April 1943
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/FA0F23CC-CFA3-4A4B-BC25-21E5D6248D94 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/67EF6E82-68A5-44D6-AE6D-77442F6F4A92 |
| Summary: | 1943-04
1943
1940s
24 pages
CAN WE AFFORD IT? The need for a comprehensive Medical Service is literally a "vital" need. We have given solid reasons why that need can only be met by a State Medical Service, nationally planned, locally administered, and financed out of public funds. There remains the crucial question : "Can we afford it?" One might answer with truth that we cannot afford not to afford a service so necessary for life ; but no such facile answer should satisfy us ; or, indeed, could satisfy a Chancellor of the Exchequer. Before asserting that the nation should undertake to foot this bill, we must have an adequate idea of the cost of the present service and of the reorganised service. Pre-war Cost of Existing Service Before the war Great Britain spent on the treatment of the sick about £140,000,000. £45,000,000 of this went in doctors' and dentists' fees, £40,000,000 on public and voluntary hospitals, and £25,000,000 on medicines. Besides this £140,000,000 for treatment of the sick, there was an expenditure of some £8,000,000 on certain preventive medical services, such as the School Medical Service and the Maternity Service.* These figures do not include certain items difficult to assess, such as fees to nursing homes. Nor, it should be noted, do they include cash benefits paid under the insurance schemes ; for these should properly figure as part of the loss resulting from ill-health rather than as part of the bill for medical treatment. The Cost of Ill-health About £32,000,000 was paid in cash benefits under the insurance schemes in cases of sickness or disablement. The economic loss through stoppage of work by ill-health represents, roughly, a further £120,000,000. Thus, we may say that the loss resulting from ill-health, together with the cost of the medical services, came to over £300,000,000 a year. Post-war Cost of Existing Service After this war, the cost of treatment of the sick, if the medical service were to remain organised as at present, would probably be somewhat higher than before the war, owing to some increase of prices, the need for rebuilding hospital accommodation, and other developments. Let us put the figure at £155,000,000 instead of the £140,000,000 spent before the war. Presumably, also, the cost of the School Medical Service and Maternity Service will increase. It appears then, that, if the Medical Service remains organised as at present, we may expect to pay about £165,000,000 for a service which, as we have seen, will be neither comprehensive nor open to all. Cost of a Comprehensive Service The cost of a comprehensive service for the treatment of the sick (not including cash benefits) was carefully examined in the Beveridge Report. The figure was arrived at in consultation with the Ministry of Health and Department of Health for Scotland, so it can be regarded as the most expert estimate we can get at present. It is meant to cover "comprehensive health and rehabilitation services for prevention and cure of disease and restoration of capacity for work, available to all members of the community." The figure is £170,000,000 a year. The Report proposes that this cost should be defrayed out of public funds, subject to a grant-in-aid of £40,000,000 from the Social Insurance Fund. * See P.E.P. "Report on the British Health Services," and "Medicine To-day and To-morrow," March, 1941. The P.E.P. figure of £185,000,000 (p. 388) represents cost of treatment and maintenance of the sick ; the figure of £140,000,000 given above represents only the cost of treatment. 22
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |