The Health Services
1944-05 1944 1940s 23 pages 8 (3) National Health Insurance. The National Health Insurance Act, 1911, initiated by Mr. Lloyd George, and passed against considerable opposition from the ranks of the medical profession, was an important step forward. The original fears of doctors that it would lowe...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
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London : C. W. Publishing Ltd.
May 1944
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/06097A45-029E-49F7-A02D-EFAE5C23BD63 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/63C5FDED-FA82-4238-BF84-93A5D5A83D5D |
| Summary: | 1944-05
1944
1940s
23 pages
8 (3) National Health Insurance. The National Health Insurance Act, 1911, initiated by Mr. Lloyd George, and passed against considerable opposition from the ranks of the medical profession, was an important step forward. The original fears of doctors that it would lower their professional and economic standards proved to be unfounded. Millions of people who had never been able to afford regular medical attention were for the first time in their lives provided with a home doctor and free medicines. All N.H.I. legislation since 1911 has been consolidated in the National Health Act Insurance Act, 1936. The scheme includes all manual workers and non-manual workers with an income up to £420 per year (up to £250 until 1941). The only statutory benefits, apart from general practitioner service and medicines, are small weekly cash benefits in case of sickness and disablement, and a single maternity cash benefit of £2. No dependants' allowances are paid. The medical benefit is administered by insurance committees, and the cash and "additional benefits" (such as contributions towards dental treatment, optical and surgical appliances, etc.), by a great number of approved societies. The "additional" benefits a patient gets depend on the financial surplus of the approved society to which he belongs. If he is in poor health, however, no approved society may accept him and he may have to remain a "deposit contributor" who is not entitled to additional benefits. In that case the rates are 18/- per week for a man and 13/- for a single woman ; and for disablement 10/6 and 9/-. If he belongs to an approved society catering mainly for persons whose general health standard is low — miners for instance — his society will have little or no surplus to grant additional benefits. Those who need them most will therefore find it most difficult to get them. If National Health Insurance were extended (as demanded by the British Medical Association) to dependants of insured persons and to persons "of like economic status," it would exclude about 10 per cent. of the population — a proportion too small to justify the provision of separate medical services. The Royal Commission on National Health Insurance, 1926, came to this conclusion :— "The ultimate solution will lie, we think, in the direction of divorcing the medical service entirely from the insurance system and recognising it along with all the other public health activities as a service to be supported from the general public funds."
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |