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TOPIC FOR DOCTORS.

BRITISH INSURANCE ACT. MEDICAL CONGRESS DISCUSS IT. (. : . . (By Telegmph.-Preea iseooiation.) Auckland, February 9. In tie course of his addiess at tho Medical Congress on the British Insur- .. .anco .Act, Dr. J. A. MaeDonald itidioat-' ed how tho medical profession resented having this Act thrust" upon it. There could bo no objection to a scheme which, provided a worker with the cost of medical benefits, but there were many objections to a system which itself provided these medical benefits. Let tho ■worker ha.ve tho money, said the doctor, and lot him have tho liberty to make a. contract with any medical man whom he might choose. Dr. Mac Donald gave the meeting some hints as to tho '. course to be adopted if the profession nere called upon to face jut attempt to . introduce such an- Act here. First of all they must be organised, and nobody was so capable of dealing with such a guestion as the British Medical Association, to which every member of the profession "shduld bolong.- They must, at the / outset, consider .their plans clearly and carefully. In the Old Country the doc- . tors had issued "a report which 'was not carefully considered, and in the campaign :. ■ this was iised. strongly against them. 'An essential part of a campaign was a defence fund, which .must,be ready be- ... fore an} , action was taken. From Li's ■observations,' an Insurance Act was needed-even less in tho colonies than it ■ was in Great Britain. Remuneration Here and at Home. One of the. delegates,, in the course of a question to Dr. Mac Donald, asked whether,. under the terms of the National Insurance scheme, medical men in England attending Friendly Society patients were not better off than medical men in New Zealand, Here a doctor attended a man and his wife and family if they belonged to a lodge for £1. In England the- father, mother, and one • child would-represent a return of 235. i Dr. Mac Donald replied that in some cases the .direct return to the medical man would bo as high as 7e; for each : person. . i A delegate: Aud l here we attend a whole family for £1. • . t ' '' Another delegate: It is absurd. A\third delegate: Then whv do it? .A further question put to the speaker '■ was s whether- to some practitioners at-. Home the scheme had not meant an im- ; .proved income. What, for instance, was ■the usual fee charged amongst poor people? ■Vγ." Mac Donald' replied' that, there , had been-some improvement so far as . the "poorer classes were concerned, for the usutrt charge for a visit in. such . 'cases had been 2s. 6d. ..■■■ . ■ Effect on Friendly' Societies. D.r.Brennan (New South Wales) asksd .what effect the administration of tho 'Act had had upon tho English Friendly Societies. ' ... Br. MacDonaH,.replied, that the JJYiendly. Societies had been led to believe that the administration of the Act would he in their hands. ■: iWhen it, was discovered l that there .would bo fourteen million people involved, instead of four or five millions, the scope had heen extended, and other "approved" societies had been given I governing power.- The. result - was that . a wonderfully organised'body, known as the Credential Insurance Society,-which went from door to door throughout tho ; Old Country doing business, had by far theibiggest connection. The.long established Friendly Societies were eitlier already bankrupt or likely to become so very shortly, unless the Act'was .amend-' ' - ed..". '" ■ \ ■' 'V" '- v.'i""4> v Another question was as,to how.tho Act,affected the people who went to a '• . hospital for free treatment. . Dr. MacDonakl's reply .was that there was an improvement in this direction, ; and people who previously always look- : ed for.free treatment, now paid for the doctor's ad rice.,- ■■ • ...... .-■ ,'

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19140210.2.81

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1980, 10 February 1914, Page 8

Word count
Tapeke kupu
615

TOPIC FOR DOCTORS. Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1980, 10 February 1914, Page 8

TOPIC FOR DOCTORS. Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1980, 10 February 1914, Page 8

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