Report of the Royal Commission on National Health Insurance

Bibliographic data

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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378 APPENDIX A. We estimate that of the married men who are insured under the scheme of National Health Insurance about omne-seventh have wage-earning wives. The distribution of this class of wives with reference to industry as a whole is, however, very uneven, a large proportion of the whole number being employed themselves, and being the wives of men employed in the textile industry, while among other industries, as for example, coal-mining, the employment in industry of the wife of the insured man is very rare. It follows that if wage-earning wives were excluded from the definition of dependants and financial provision made accordingly, the present deviations from the general average, which result from the system of insurance through approved societies, would be accentuated. At the same time we do not regard the point as one of such importance as to justify us in advising that dependants’ benefits should be insured through a central fund, with all the complications of finance and adminis- tration that such an arrangement would involve. The alternative is to provide actuarially for the payment of the benefit in all cases in which an insured man is married, in which event a small margin would enure to the financial advantage of the societies concerned should it be decided to exclude the employed wife from the definition of a dependant. 6. With regard to children the qualification in the Unemployment Insurance and Widows’ &c., Pensions Acts is that the child is under the age of 14 or the age not exceeding 16 up to which the child remains under full-time instruction in a day school. In view, however, of the administrative difficulties which would arise in establishing the dependency of children over the age of 14, we are asked to frame our estimates on the basis that benefit would be limited to cases of children not exceeding the age of 14. Further, we are instructed that in all cases children should be regarded as dependent upon the father only, whether he is insured or not and without regard to the question whether the mother is herself insured. 7. The estimates set out below relating to insured men provide therefore for the payment of sickness or disablement benefit in all cases in which the man is married or, being a married man or widower, has children under the age of 14. The special data required are given in Tables B and D of the Report of the Government Actuary on the Contributory Pensions Bill (Cmd. 2406). In other respects the basis of the calculations is in conformity with that adopted for our previous estimates as explained in our Report of 13th October, 1925. We have ascertained in the first instance the contribution necessary to provide for sickness benefit for dependants at the rates of the Unemployment Insurance scheme, namely, 5s. a week for a wife and 2s. a week for each child, with one-half of these rates during disablement benefit, with an additional allowance of 5s. a week (corresponding to the wvife’s benefit in the case of a married man) for a widower with children. The administration of benefits of this type would, we presume, impose some additional labour on the approved societies; we have accordingly assumed that it would be necessary to make some increase in the present administration allowance, and for this purpose have assumed that the rate of 4s. 5d. would be increased to 4s. 8d. We estimate that the necessary contribution for seven-ninths of the new charces would be as follows: — To the Benefit Fund per week ... To Reserve Values ... id ) 50 As we have explained earlier in this Report, the contribution required to support the present liabilities of the system, with a further charge of 3s. a year in respect of medical benefit is 811d. a week. Tf to this

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