Report of the Royal Commission on National Health Insurance

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1740277147

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-132094

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on National Health Insurance

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stationery Office

Year of publication:: 1926

Scope:: XII, 394 S.

Digitisation:: 2020

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter VIII. The approved society system

Collection:: Economics Books

is nL MAJORITY REPORT. the extent to which the rules ought to provide. It is a very difficult question, because a very large proportion of insured members do not take any interest in the management of their Approved Societies *’ (Kinnear, Q. 23,571). At this stage it ray be sufficient to quote further the view of the National Asso- ciation of Trade Union Approved Societies, that as a condition of continued approval a Society ‘‘ should give reasonable opportuni- ties to its members to exercise some influence in its control and management *’ (Q. 21,837). 213.- We have also received evidence suggesting the unsuit- ability of Societies, and especially the smaller Societies and branches, as agencies for the administration of any benefits in the nature of treatment. Under the Act as it stands, every Society and branch, however small, can provide for its members an additional treatment benefit within the limits of the amount allocated for the purpose out of its own disposable surplus. In the case of a Society or branch with a membership of about 100 the sum available each year under the allocation would not ordinarily exceed. a few pounds, the whole of which might be exhausted in the first two or three claims for benefit which had to be dealt with. In consequence, in the not improbable event of the number of members desiring the benefit in any year being greater than the anticipated average, later claimants would be unable to obtain any benefit. 214. In the case of additional benefits, other than the increases of the normal cash benefits, it is also contended that the smaller Societies, in particular, are handicapped by the difficulties under which they inevitably labour in seeking to institute the necessary arrangements on behalf of their members, The peculiar character of these benefits has already been commented upon, and while it is true that they do not, in strictness, assume the form of treatment, but are rather payments towards the cost of treatment, nevertheless the work to be performed by Societies in their administration may involve the organisation of arrangements under which their members may receive treat- ment. For such work as this the small isolated Society or branch is, it is contended, obviously unsuited. To this con- sideration may doubtless be ascribed the fact that organisations such as the National Insurance Beneficent Society have been evolved to afford- aid to Societies in such matters. 215. A further ground on which the Approved Society system was criticised was that it * stands in the way of the unification of social insurance which so many people now desire ’’ (Cohen, Q. 19,892). In support of this, appeal was made to the fact that the Societies had not been considered to be suitable bodies for the administration of Unemployment Insurance or of the newly- introduced scheme of insurance for Widows’, Orphans and Old Age Pensions. In this connexion we may also refer to the

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