NATIONAL HEALTH

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20254, 24 July 1937, Page 27 (Supplement)

NATIONAL HEALTH

B.M.A. SUGGESTIONS. NEED FOR AMPLE DATA. COMMUNITY GROUPED. The opinion that the national health teanranoe legislation -should be delayed until full data are available, oomplete Investigation has been made, And the people and their representatives have reached Informed oonolufllons Is expressed in a report by a •peoial committee of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association, under the chairmanship of Dr. &. P. S. Jamieson, of Nelson. The report suggests that the community be divided into four sections, £ooordlng to Inoome, for health lnsurtaoe purposes. The four seotlons proposed m the plan are as follows: — (1) Old-age pensioners, unemployed and unemployable persons, others of •mall earnings or Inoome who are not dependents of other persons, and the dependents of all the foregoing where the family or group Inoome does not •xoeed old-age pension, unemployment or sustenance rates. For this section, It Is suggested, oomplete servloe might be provided, fuoh people now receive hospital services virtually free, and the oommlttee oonslders that these showld be financed on a more national basis, the State providing domiciliary medioal and nursing attention under the soheme and incidentally reduolng the present long average -stay of such oases In hospital. ftooond Group. Wage and salary earners whose total inoome does not exoeed 60s a Veek gross, if single, and 80s If marHed, with an additional 10s for eaoh child under 16. Persons in this -section, it Is proposed, should he contributors for themselves and their dependents to a scheme providing a oomplete health service as for -section 1. The contribution could be fixed upon a level that •would defray the oost of general practitioner service and -some of the oost Of hospital service, the publio funds bearing the remainder. Tho oomnfittee admits that it seems •anomalous not to include In this section persons who are within the Inoome limits mentioned, but who are working On their own aooount. It states, however, that much diffloulty ha* been found everywhere In fitting suoh workers Into health Insurance schemes. In the next section, however, something can be done to guard them against their main risk. (8) All persons having lnoomos not Oxoeedlng £SOO a year and not Included In section 8. Such persons, the oommlttee -states, are usually not In diffloulty In regard to ordinary medioal attendance, but only regarding more serious Illness requiring hospital and specialist treatment. It to proposed that they should make their own arrangements for the former and should contribute to an Insurance fund providing a cash benefit to defray the oost of hospital, specialist and consultant services. This fund should be on a compulsory and selfsupporting basis. It has been demonstrated In England that suoh group schemes can be run on sound lines. The oommlttee believes that the proposal would considerably relieve hospital accommodation and flnanoe. State’s Contribution. (4) Those with incomes exceeding #6OO a year. It Is considered that persons In this section are capable of providing all •ervloes for themselves. Insurance against sickness risks Is already open to them, and they could be admitted, if they chose, to the scheme suggested tor section 8. The Idea underlying these suggestions la that assistance should be given where needs press most heavily, and that the State's contribution should be graduated aooordlng to the means of the Individual. In the first section It would find the whole cost, In the second seotlon part of the oost. and the third section would be self-supporting on the Insurance prlnolple. The report discusses the elements •f a “oomplete health service" under nine headings. It states that the family doctor Is the essential pivotal point •nd the general character of ordinary private praotloe should be preserved M it exist* at present. To ensure the best Quality of service, every registered medical practitioner should have a. statutory right to undertake the work, and there should he free oholce m between doctor and patient. As regards hospital service, outpatient departments should be retained purely for casualty and emergency work. No charge should be made to patients in seotlon 1 admitted on the recommendation of their medical practitioners. and for those In section 2 some portion of the cost, would be defrayed from their Insurance contributions.