SOCIAL INSURANCE

Grey River Argus, 28 August 1937, Page 4

SOCIAL INSURANCE

Australian Report HEALTH AND PENSIONS. ADMINISTRATION OF SCHEME. GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETIES. Details of the suggested nationa insurance scheme for Australia wen received in Auckland recently. Tin proposals, submitted in a report bj Sir Walter Kinnear, British nationa insurance expert, are for the estab lishment of a compulsory nationa health, widows’ orphans' and old ag< pensions scheme on a contributory basis, to apply’ to employees aged 1( and over, except non-manual em ployees whose remuneration exceed: £365 a year. Under speh a scheme more thai 1,800,000 persons would be insured on a basis of weekly contributions o 3s for men (employer Is 6d, employe) Is 6d), and 2s for women (employe! Is, employee Is). Of these contrib tions, the following amounts wouk be for the health scheme:—Men Is 3d; women, Is 2d. Cost of the Proposal. Commonwealth subsidies would b( as follows:—Health scheme: £900,001 a year for 35 years designed tc liquidate in that time the deficit' which would be shown by the scheme in the initial years of its operation Pension scheme :£1,000,000 a year foi the first five years, increasing thereafter at. the rate of £500.000 a year until a maximum of £10,000,000 i; reached, in the year 1960, at which date the grant would be stabilised. To meet the growing cost of the scheme, provision would be made foi the increase of contributions >y 6d £ week for both men and women (3c employer, and 3d employee) at the end of five years, and an additiona 6d for men only at the end of 1C years after the inception of the scheme. Payment would be by mea. of stamps affixed to a card. The health scheme, which would be carried on by approved societies undei an insurance department of the Commonwealth, would cover the following health benefits: — Health Benefits. (a) Medical benefit: Consisting ol free medical attendance and treatment, including medicines and certain medical and surgical appliances (b) Sickness benefit: Men, 20s £ week, women, 15s a week, and, in addition, an allowance of 3s 6d a weeL for each dependent child under If years. (c) Disablement benefit: Men, 15; a week, women, 12s 6d a week, and in addition, an allowance of 3s 6d u week for each dependent child undei 16 years of age. (d) Additional benefits out of surplus revealed by periodical valuations of the assets and liabilities of approved societies. Such additional benefits might include increases in the sickness and disablement benefits, and payments for dental and ophthalmic treatments, and treatments in hospitals, convalescent homes, etc. Sickness and disablement benefits would be payable up to 65 years oi age in the case of men and 60 years in the case of women. Proposed Pension Rates. The pension rates proposed would be:— . (a) Widows’ pension: Widows of insured men to be paid 12s 6d a week until the date of the first increase of contributions (five years from the inception of the scheme), and thereafter 15s a week for life, or until remarriage, and, in addition, an allowance of 3s 6d a week for each dependent child under 16. (b) Orphans’ pension: Each dependent child under 16 of an insured person (including Insured widows) to receive 7s 6d a week. (c) Old-age pension: Insured persons to be paid for life—men, 20s a week from the age of 65; women, 15s a week from the age of 60, and, in addition, 3s 6d a week for each dependent child under 16. Old-age pensioners would be entitled to medical benefit for life. All pensions would be paid free of means, nmnnational. or nationality tests.

occupational, ui iiaLiv.icuxvj Sickness benefits would begin after the payment of 26 weekly contributions, the disablement benefit after 104 weekly contributions, widows and orphans’ pensions after 104 weekly contributions, and old-age pensions after the insured persons had been at least five years in insurance, and paid 260 contributions. Suggested Administration. The report suggests that supplementary pensions should be paid by the Commonwealth if the “insurance” benefit was less than the noncontributory invalid or old-age pension to which the pensioner would otherwise be entitled. The report also suggests the establishment of an insurance department of the Comonwealth which would be responsible, through a Minister, to Parliament for the enforcement of the Act and the general administration of the scheme. The detailed administration, other than medical benefit, would be carried on by societies approved by the department. No medical examinations would be required, as persons entering into insurance would be in emyloyment. Insured persons, other than married women, who had been in full compulsory insurance for two years, and who passed out of the range of the scheme, should be entitled to continue as voluntary contributors, tn-

sured persons who neglected to join approved societies should be allowed to become deposit contributors, their benefits (administered oy the central department) to be limited to the amount standing to their own individual credit. Lists of Doctors. The report suggests me provision of a contingency fund for each society, built up by deducting id from each weekly contribution, to be used to meet any deficiency, to be used with any other surplus for the provision of additional benefits. Arrangements suggested for medii cal benefits provide for the prepara- | tion by the department of a list of ; doctors agreeing to attend and treat Insured persons; the right of any qualified medical practitioner to be included in that list; and the right of any insured person to select from the , list the doctor by whom he wishes to he attended, subject to that doctor’s consent. i The views of the medical men con- |

cerned should be ascertained by the department by consultation with an Insurance Act medical committee set up by the British Medical Association, and composed of representatives of medical practitioners giving treatment under the scheme.