HEALTH INSURANCE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20851, 6 October 1937, Page 6

HEALTH INSURANCE

BRITISH MEDICAL AUTHORITY

SIR HENRY BRACKENBURY VISITS TIMARU

A noted British medical man, Sir Henry Britten Brackenbury, is visiting New Zealand. Sir Henry and Lady Brackenbury arrived in Timaru from the Hermitage on Monday, and left yesterday afternoon for Christchurch.

In conversation with a representative of “The Timaru Herald,” Sir Henry said that he had been asked to come to New Zealand primarily to advise the medical profession and secondly, anyone else interested, including the Health Department in regard to the English experience of health insurance, so that they might use that experience in framing a scheme for New Zealand. Active in medical, educational and local body work for more than 40 years, Sir Henry has published numerous articles on social insurance, mental deficiency and educational and public health administration in recent years. He is vice-president and was formerly chairman of the council of the British Medical Association and is also chairman of the council of the Institute of Medical Psychology, vice-president of the Central Association for Mental Welfare, a member of the General Medical Council, and a member of the advisory committee to the Ministry of Health.

The broad principles on which the English scheme was applied were outlined by Sir Henry. He explained that each man or woman eligible under the scheme received a medical card from local insurance committees and this could be presented to any doctor when treatment was needed.

Freedom of Choice

There was freedom of choice in selecting a general practitioner who, if he accepted the patient, signed the card and gave the required treatment free of charge. Specialised treatment was beyond the scheme but, in such cases, the general practitioner would carry out a diagnosis and help the patient to obtain the attention that was required. If a person found that he or she could not get on with a particular doctor or if a doctor did not want a particular patient, a change could be made.

Sir Henry further explained that when a person entered the scheme, the employer placed a stamp on a card every week. The value of the stamp was slightly more than 1/-. Half the value of the stamp was paid by the employer and half by the employee. At the end of the year the State added one-seventh of the amount involved in respect of such insured worker, and this constituted the insurance fund. At the present time there were nearly 19,000,000 people so insured, so that it would be seen that the fund was a fairly large one. Each insured worker was entitled to medical treatment, a sickness cash benefit and £2/2/- maternity allowance. If the wife of an insured worker was also insured, she received an additional £2/2/-.

Extension Desired

Sir Henry explained that the scheme affected only those people who were receiving not more than £250 a year. When an insured man went beyond tuat figure, he passed out of the scheme so far as medical services were concerned, although he could remain in for other benefits. “The scheme as we have it in England in the conditions of England is a pronounced success,” said Sir Henry. “What one wants is an extension of it in the direction of including dependents of insured persons. The important thing is that the scheme is a limited one, limited to those who are not in a position to provide medical service for themselves. A scheme, such as has been spoken of in New Zealand, a universal one, would not work in New Zealand.”