Three priorities set out by commission

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32873, 23 March 1972, Page 5

Three priorities set out by commission

“Matters which we consider of prime importance and needing early consideration are first, the raising of the levels of standard benefits; second, the relief of parents and others bearing the financial cost of children, with particular regard to adjusting anomalies; and third, the assumption by the State of a greater share of the medical costs falling on special groups which we have designated.”

These are the priorities assigned by the Royal Commission on Social Security on its own recommendations. It notes that in respect of some recommendations which it considers to be very important—such as. the reconstruction of the Social Security Commission—there is no immediate urgency.

Early consideration should be given by the Government to the extended use of the National Provident Fund to ensure that employees without access to occupational

superannuation have better opportunities to provide a higher retirement income, says the commission. It also recommends that favourable consideration be given to the future introduction of eamings-related “compensation” for limited periods during incapacity caused by illness, to be administered separately from the social security system as an addition to the scheme for accident compensation proposed as a consequence of the Woodhouse report.

But it qualifies this recommendation by saying that for social security the priority is the provision of adequate benefit levels for those in need, and that if the introduction of earnings-related

sickness benefits for earners is seen as an impediment to the priority that step should not be taken.

The commission proposes that the standard medical benefit (for the payment of doctor’s fees) be increased from 75c to $1.25, and that for four classes of patients the benefits be increased to $2, provided the benefit is accepted by the doctor in full settlement.

These groups are designated as follows: all people aged 65 and over; all children up to their tenth birthday; all income-tested beneficiaries and their dependants; all people receiving an economic war pension dr allowance, and their dependants.

“If the general medical services benefit is to be increased, the State, which is carrying an increased share of the cost, should take some part in the fixing of general practitioner fees,” says the commission’s report. “This will ensure that increases in benefit rates are not paralleled by increases in fees. Appropriate machinery for this should be constructed after consultation between the Government and the medical profession.” The commission also proposes that the benefit for consultations outside nonpal hours, and for extended consultations, each be increased from 50c to 75c. It recommends that the present substantially free Charmaceutical drug system e retained and that no general part-charge (eithet flat rate or porportional) be imposed on the patient.