HEALTH SERVICE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23026, 2 May 1938, Page 10

HEALTH SERVICE

CASE FOR COUNTIES QUALIFIED SUPPORT HOSPITAL BATING ISSUE ADMINISTRATION OP PLAN [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] WELLINGTON. Saturday " This organisation supports tho establishment of compulsory national health insurance, although > at tho moment it cannot see that tho burden of taxation jvill become any lighter 011 rural taxpayers unless some adjustments are nutde," stated the Counties' Association in a statement submitted to the Parliamentary Select Committee considering the Government's national health and superannuation scheme. "At present tho Government and local bodies jointly provide the major portion of the revenue for the upkeep of our hospitals. As the Government has not yot given any indication whether it intends to abolish the existing system of collecting hospital rates, this organisation assumes that tho system in vogue will still continue. Fifty-three per cent of the capital value of properties lies in rural areas, whereas only 41 per cent of the population lives in those areas. To us it appears axiomatic that the greater the population in a placo the more hospital treatment will be needed than in a more sparsely-settled area. Consequently this organisation is of tho opinion that if a system of hospital rating is to be retained, the basis of levy for local bodies should be population and not capital value. Hospitals Still Needed "'Hospitals will still continue to be needed even when a national health scheme is established, and revenue will still be required to help in their maintenance, but some adjustments of the payments of rural ratepayers are necessary to make thj? incidence of hospital rating more equitable. The.™ adjustments should be;—(I) Basis of levy to be population in lieu of rateable capital value; (2) a scaling down of the social security levy of Is in the pound to obviate the double-banking of contributions toward health services and the upkeep of hospitals. "Such adjustments are necessary to square with the Prime Minister's statement that no one will be placed in a worse position than at present. "This organisation considers that the whole of the Government health service proposal No. 1 should be brought into being, and put into working order, before proposals 2 and 3 are considered further.

"Lack of health, as one cause of insecurity for the worker, calls for broad co-operation in health conservation and improvement on the part of health authorities, employers and workers. If this were done the amount of absence from work due to. sickness would be greatly reduced, and the conditions that bring the impairment of the workers' efficiency with advancing years would be corrected and improved, thus postponing the day when the worker must retire on account of old age incapacity. Points for Consideration

"Tho details of tho establishment of a free medical service can safely be left in the hands of a committee from the Health Department, the British Medical Association, and the Hospitals' Association, but this organisation would like to see the following; general points considered: —

That all phases of social security, including free medical service, should be placed under the control of one department. "2. That the local administration of all health services be vested in the various hospital boards in order to carry out the national scheme uniformly. "3. That all medical practitioners be given the right to participate in all phases of the proposed health service scheme.

V 4. Freedom of choice as between medical practitioner and patient, especially when the latter has boen acting under the advice of a certain practitioner prior to the health services coming into operation. "5. That existing friendly societies be utilised wherever possible in the national scheme."