SOCIAL SECURITY DOES NOT CARRY ALL HEALTH COSTS
Benefits offered by the social security system in New Zealand do not cover all the viscissitudes which may occur to the private individual. There are over 20 classes of service which are at present excluded from the fund’s liabilities, in respect of cases treated in public hospitals. Victims of accidents are treated in hospital as a matter of bourse, but if the acidents arise out of circumstances leading to claims for compensation • the social security fund is entitled to reimbursement of hospital costs. The reimbursement is claimed from any compensation moneys paid. Dental treatment in hospital may figure as part of the cure, and in such cases is free to the patient. But dental treatment which is not associated with a malady is charged to the patient, usually on a rate lower than that obtainable lyProvision of reading-spectacles is subject to a charge where the patient has funds. Some types of laboratory and radiological' attention are charged to the patient, ' and splints taken out of hospital are returnable, with a charge as an alternative.
Some types of drugs are still not covered by the social security system, and patients for whom these are required are obliged, if they have the means to contribute part of the cost. Up to 20 per cent of the cost of artificial limbs required by patients also' may be charged.
Persons not domiciled in the Dominion are not covered by the .social security fund, and visitors who have to enter hospital while in New Zealand are charged for treatment. Crews of overseas ships are exempted from this provision as their cases are dealt with under agreements with the shipping companies. Cases sent from Fiji, Samoa, and the Cook Islands for specialist treatment in New Zealand hospitals are not treated at the expense of New Zealand taxpayers. Either they put up their own money, or have their accounts guaranteed by the islands authorities.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BPB19500526.2.27
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Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 49, 26 May 1950, Page 5
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325SOCIAL SECURITY DOES NOT CARRY ALL HEALTH COSTS Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 49, 26 May 1950, Page 5
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