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MAJORITY REPORT. 
149 
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mothers who in varying degrees do not or cannot meet their 
difficulties by purely individual effort. 
THE MEDICAL AND THE MAINTENANCE HLEMENTS. 
336. It may at this point be of interest to submit some details 
of the cost of an extended maternity service which have been 
provided for our use. There are two main groups of elements 
which have to be considered. In the first place there are the 
medical services, with a cash payment to the woman to enable 
her to buy any necessaries and comforts incidental to the 
occasion. In the second place there is the provision of main- 
tenance for the working mother and her child during a specified 
period before and after the confinement on the condition that 
remunerative work is given up during these periods. 
CosT oF THE MEDICAL PROVISION. 
337. The average number of confinements in respect of which 
Maternity benefit is payable is estimated to be 717,500 per annum, 
of which 517,500 are cases of uninsured women. The first of 
the new requirements would seem to be provision for medical 
€Xamination, ante-natal and post-natal. An outside fee for these 
examinations would be 5s. each (10s. in all). It is open to argu- 
ent whether, as regards insured women, these particular ser- 
Vices are not tio a great; extent included within the scope of the 
medical benefit to which the women concerned are entitled, and 
are therefore covered by the obligation which at present rests 
on the insurance practitioner. For the purpose of our estimate 
We have treated them as new services, but this must not be 
taken as an expression of opinion on the content of the present 
Medical benefit in relation to the class in question. 
338. The second requirement is the provision of ordinary 
Medical care during the period of pregnancy. Apart from 
attendances which would be necessary in all cases as part of the 
ante-natal treatment, the risk of ordinary attendances being 
fequired during pregnancy is clearly higher than it would be ut 
Other times. Hven if the doctors were prepared to undertake this 
New service on a contract basis it cannot be assumed that they 
Would be willing to accept payment on the basis of the ordinary 
Capitation rate applicable to insured persons generally. The offer 
of free medical attention in the ante-natal period might be ex- 
bected to result in consultation with the doctor regarding 
Pregnancy at an earlier date than is otherwise usual. Assuming 
that on the average the doctor would be informed at the end of the 
Second month, the payment on the basis of a capitation fee of 9s. a 
Year would be 7/12ths of this amount, or 5s. 3d. But the present 
34.709