FREE TREATMENT

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4806, 5 July 1939, Page 7

FREE TREATMENT

HOSPITAL BENEFITS. LIKELY POSITION IN WAIKATO BOARD’S AREA. With the introduction on Saturday last of the hospital benefits under the Social Security Act, in-patients of public hospitals will no longer have to meet fees for treatment. The charge will in future be met by the Government from the Social Security Fund. While considerable benefit is therefore apparent for hospital patients, it is as yet uncertain what effect upon hospital administrative costs in the Waikato the new regulations will have. Facing the possibility of an increase of approximately 40 per cent, in the hospital rate this year, members of local bodies in the Waikato Hospital district will anxiously await an announcement of the effect upon hospital finances of the hospital benefits. Ratepayers, too, are hoping for some relief from the extra, but unavoidable, burden which may fall on them if the estimated levies on local bodies this year are authorised. It is impossible to gauge at the present time the effect which will be produced on the hospital estimates of the guaranteed receipt of 6s a day for each patient. However, it is considered likely that the Waikato Hospital Board will receive a bigger income from the social security returns than has hitherto been received from fees paid by patients. A full report on the social security hospital benefits in relation to the Waikato Hospital Board is expected at the next meeting of the board on July 13.

Conditions of Benefit.

Specific conditions have been laid down for the administration of the hospital benefits section of the social security scheme in the regulations which were issued from Wellington last week. For hospital treatment to any person entitled to claim hospital benefits under the Act, or to any member of his family, payment will be made from the Social Security Fund to the authority controlling the institution. Where treatment is afforded on not more than two days, 12s will be paid. In every other case Gs is to be paid for every day on which treatment is provided. The day of admission to hospital and the day of discharge shall, however, be counted as one day.

When any treatment is afforded in a public hospital, the prescribed payment is to be made to the Hospital Board controlling the institution in full settlement of the its claims for the treatment.

In the case of the private hospitals the payment is to be made to the licensee in partial satisfaction of the fees for the treatment. It is stipulated, however, that payment in respect of treatment ''afforded in any private hospital may be withheld unless the Minister is satisfied that the amount payable from the Social Security Fund will be accepted in reduction to the extent of 12s for not more than two days, and to the extent of 6s a day in other cases, of the charges that would otherwise be payable by the patient. The Minister has power under the Social Security Act to authorise the payment of a grant from the Social Security Fund in respect of treatment given in any private hospital in lieu of payment for individual patients in the institution. Claims will be made each month by the hospital boards or private hospitals for the period of one month ending on the last day of the month. In the case of hospital boards, the claim is to be made to the DirectorGeneral of Health, Wellington, while claims from private hospitals will be made to the local medical officer of health.

Claims in lhe Waikaio.

In the case of private hospitals in the Waikato, claims will be forwarded to the medical officer of health in Hamilton. Every claim must be supported by the requisite certificates as provided by the department. For the purpose of enabling claims for payment to be verified, every hospital board will be required to keep records in a form approved by the Minister of the admissions to and the discharges from the institution, with particulars of the nature of treatment.

The Waikato Hospital Board will, as a result of this latter provision, have to revise slightly its system of records, but it is not expected that there will be any additional clerical work which cannot be handled by the present staff. Application for approval by the Minister of any institution in which sick or injured people receive treat-

ment, other than public hospitals or licensed private hospitals, may be made to the Director-General of Health.

Where hospital treatment is afforded to any woman who has received or is entitled to claim maternity benefits under the Social Security Act, no payment will be made under the hospital benefits regulations in respect of treatment received by the woman at any time during which fees are payable under the maternity benefits.