Full text: Report of the Royal Commission on National Health Insurance

MINORITY REPORT. 
ST 
I. 
tion of cash benefits without the slightest relationship to public 
activities affecting the need for these benefits. 
56. We accept the principle laid down by the Majority Report 
as to ** the desirability of bringing into closer relationship the 
various services directed towards the prevention of sickness and 
the improvement of health.” We submit that this is impossible 
while one essential health service is left unattached ; and we 
recommend the substitution of Societies under appropriate 
Local Authorities, which would apparently be the County 
Councils and County Borough Councils, for the present system 
of Approved Societies. 
57. Tt seems to us that substantially each of these groups 
would be fairly representative of the industrial population of 
the country, but in so far as they were not equally representa- 
tive the operation of a Central Fund might be the means of 
equalisation. 
58. At the outset, for the purpose of securing essential 
statistics and in order to determine the standards of health in 
different parts of the country, it may be necessary to consider 
each group as an area Society, the Society operating financially 
very similarly to an Approved Society under the present system ; 
but as time and experience allowed, it is not unreasonable to 
suppose that the actuarial basis as we know it, and the valuations 
as they are now conducted, could be very materially modified. 
We should, then, for the purpose of establishing this new system, 
proceed along existing actuarial lines. 
THE FINANCES OF THE PRESENT SCHEME. 
59. We are unable to agree that we should make no recom- 
mendation which takes us outside the financial limits of the 
present scheme. We submit that there is financial loss due to 
the overlapping of the various services at present in operation 
and that the money available will be increased when these 
services are unified and controlled under the TLocal Authority. 
60. We are also clear that a Commission dealing with National 
Health Insurance must take into account national loss resulting 
from neglect to provide sufficiently for the health of all those 
who are or will be employable. 
61. The whole question of national health is bound up with 
that of efficiency and output, and it is impossible to rank as a 
“ burden ”’ on industry or on the community an outlay which 
safeguards industrial well-being and (to put it no higher) con- 
duces to the efficiency of the machine. These charges produce 
a definite return. °° There is five per cent. in good conditions,’ 
said a great employer of labour. 
62. We agree with our colleagues that it is desirable 
‘that a balance between the expenditure on these schemes 
34709 
I, ©
	        
Waiting...

Note to user

Dear user,

In response to current developments in the web technology used by the Goobi viewer, the software no longer supports your browser.

Please use one of the following browsers to display this page correctly.

Thank you.