MAJORITY REPORT. 
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5 
something approaching this amount; but a secondary effect of 
some consequence would be to throw into deficiency a number of 
Societies which at present have no surplus or only small surpluses, 
and are consequently unable to meet any additional strain on 
their resources. The Committee estimate that Societies com- 
prising about 10 per cent. of the whole insured community might 
be placed in this position and they recommend, accordingly, that 
any balances accruing to the Reserve Suspense Fund after 1926 
should be utilised to give sufficient financial assistance to Societies 
of this class to enable them to maintain a condition of solvency 
181. The Committee point out that their proposals do not in- 
volve any draft upon the accrued surpluses of Societies which, with 
the related Contingencies Funds, and apart from surplus in course 
of distribution under current schemes for additional benefits, must 
amount, they estimate, to something considerably in excess of 
£35 000.000 at 31st December, 1926. 
First CALL ON THE MARGIN. 
182. The margin in the contribution which results from the 
Committee’s proposals amounts in all, with the related State 
grant, to about £4,500,000 a year. The first charge on this 
amount must, we think, be the balance of the cost of the present 
medical benefit, i.e., the excess over the sum of 9s. 6d. per 
insured person per annum for which provision is made in the 
Consolidation Act of 1924. Temporary provision for defraying 
this balance from various sources for three years was made by 
the Cost of Medical Benefit Act of 1924 (see paragraph 142, 
Section C of Appendix I to our Minutes of Evidence). But even 
were it desirable to continue to have recourse to similar expedients 
in future it would be impossible to rely on money being available 
from the same sources, more especially in view of the fact that 
the present temporary provision is likely to prove inadequate in 
England and Wales, and that the consequent deficiency must, in 
our opinion, be met by an increase of the temporary provision 
referred to. + On the official evidence before ‘us, the sum 
which it will be necessary to provide to cover the whole cost of 
the present medical benefit after 1926 will be 12s. 6d. per insured 
person per annum. We recommend that the whole of this sum 
should be provided in future from the funds of Approved Societies, 
as in the case of benefits in general. A problem of draftsmanship 
will no doubt arise in framing the statutory provision so as to 
meet the continuing difficulty in estimating the annual cost of 
drugs. In this connection reference may be made to the evidence 
of Mr. Brock and Dr. Smith Whitaker (Q. 23.993). 
APPLICATION OF BALANCE OF THE MARGIN. 
188. If the above recommendation be adopted the margin of 
7s. 0d. in the case of men, and 8s. 9d. in the case of women, will 
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