The Guardian TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1935. COMPULSORY NATIONAL INSURANCE.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LVI, Issue 80, 22 October 1935, Page 4

The Guardian

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1935. COMPULSORY NATIONAL INSURANCE.

Printed at Leeston, Canterbury, New Zealand, on Tuesday and Friday afternoons.

A report by a departmental committee on national compulsory superannuation and health insurance has been published, and it is a document which makes in-

teresting reading. Compulsory contributory schemes exist in about twenty-seven countries, in most cases making provision for invalidity, sickness, children's, widows' and orphans' pensions as well as old-age pensions. In general, however, they apply to particular industries or groups of workers and do not cover the whole population. The case for the establishment of a compulsory national insurance scheme is based on the view that it is in the social interest that all citizens should be protected against the risk of destitution in old age and the hazards of sickness, invalidity, orphanhood and widowhood, and that this provision should be made in such a way as to avoid any suggestion of charity or patronage. The report discusses two schemes, one a compulsory national insurance scheme and the other for medical and hospital insurance which it is considered will be better as a separate scheme. The hazard of unemployment which is to many the most serious of all, is not considered in the report, because unemployment is already provided for by taxation and also because the changes in the economic conditions have been so great in the past few years and might be so again in the near future, that there is no reliable basis on which the risks of unemployment can be actually determined. The scale of benefits is, of course, directly dependent on the costs which can be borne by the several parties concerned (the individual, the employer and the State), but in the report the estimate of cost is based on the folloAving scale:—Superannuation after 65) of £2 per week; widows' pension of £1 per week, ceasing on re-marriage; orphans' allowance of 5/- per week for each child until 16 years of age; sickness allowance during first six months of sickness of £1/7/6 per week till age 65; invalidity allowance! of the same amount for the same period; children's allowance during father's incapacity ol' ;">/- ---per week for each child until age of 16. The above scale of benefits is intended to refer to married male contributors.

It would be an advantage it" any compulsory scheme applied to all males between specified ages..

said the report, but in view of the practical difficulties involved in respect to farmers and other workers on their own account, it would be necessary, at first at least, to limit the compulsory provisions to those working for wages or salaries. The following classes could be exempted from compulsory membership -. — Persons already covered by existing superannuation or provident schemes; persons giving evidence of an assured income of not less than £104 per annum on reaching pensionable age. In such a country as New Zealand, in which a change of status from worker-on-I own-account to employee and vice versa, was very common, provision for voluntary contributions would be very necessary. A separate scheme for women covering- old age, sickness and invalidity, would appear to be flic most satisfactory method of dealing with women contributors. The report suggested that the contributions might be made by the employee, the employer and the State. The contributions of the former' might be made on a flat i rate irrespective of age, on a graduated scale according to age, or on a graduated scale to a given maximum. Contributions by the SJate might be on a flat rate or a proportion of the contributions or by way of a subsidy to meet deficiencies. In addition, the State would still retain responsibility for old-age pensions in respect of non-contributors. The* cost of any scheme would naturally depend on the benefits to be provided for, but one, based on the benefits mentioned above, for those who joined at an age of 35 or under, and a varying amount for those of older age groups, down to 10/----per week at 64, was regarded as the most satisfactory of a number discussed. The administrative organisation suggested was a board of national insurance under a Minister of the Crown and a permanent head and .sub-commis-sioners in each district. Use would be made of the existing friendly societies and other approved organisations. The basic principle of any scheme was that it must be actuarially sound.

Discussing compulsory health insurance, the report declared that this had now well passed the experimental stage and was a proved method of providing adequate medical care for large sections of the community. The advantages were so overwhelming that the proposal merited a fuller and more detailed investigation than the committee had been able to make. While insurance might be compulsory for persons working for wages arid salaries, there might be provision for the voluntary inclusion of workers on their own account. While reliable figures were not obtainable, it appeared that reasonably complete hospital and medical benefit could be provided for those coming within scope of the scheme for a sum not exceeding £2/10/----per head. The scheme should be closely linked with existing health and public hospital services so aft to provide the very necessary co-ordination.