The Waikato Times THURSDAY, MAY 8, 1941 HOSPITAL RATING CHANGE ?

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21415, 8 May 1941, Page 6

The Waikato Times THURSDAY, MAY 8, 1941 HOSPITAL RATING CHANGE ?

Admitting that the present incidence of hospital rating is inequitable, the Minister of Health, the Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer, has hinted at a possible change in the method. He gave no indication of what new method he ha/ 5 in mind, although he has had the benefit of r&imerova schemes propounded particularly V / local bodies whose f'atepayers contribute to the construction and maintenance of hospitals. For the people of New Zealand as a whole there will be no relief from the cost of hospitals, but there is no reason why the cost should not be spread more equitably. There are several methods by which that can be done and it remains to select the best. There will be objections to any of them, but it is possible to remove some of the present injustices.

Under the present system of hospital finance the cost of hospitals is shared mainly between the State and the ratepayers of the contributing local authorities, assisted by donations and formerly by the payment of patients’ fees and now by the payment from the Social Security Fund, which amounts to almost the same thing. One section of thought suggests that the hospitals should be purely the concern of the State, which should bear the whole cost. While that would perhaps have the effect of spreading the cost evenly over the community, the proposal has met with strong opposition from many hospital boards and local authorities on the grounds that the hospitals would become State concerns and the boards and other local bodies would lose control and the intimate touch which has meant so much in the administration of the hospitals. Another possible method is. to cause patients’ fees, otherwise the Social Security Fund, to relieve the local bodies of their levies. That would obviously necessitate a substantial increase in the Social Security taxation, although it would spread the burden as in the case of complete State control. It would have the advantage, however, that it need not interfere with the administration of the hospitals by the boards. From the local bodies’ point of view there is the further complaint that the present system of levies is unfair as between the urban and rural authorities. There is ample ground in all these aspects of the matter for a thorough investigation, and that is probably what the Minister has in mind. The problem is exceedingly complicated and is not a matter for an arbitrary decision. The cost of building and administering hospitals has advanced so substantially in recent years that the section of the people called upon to find the money has a right to prompt consideration. The expansion movement has not yet reached its limit by any means. The introduction of Social Security has sent the work of the hospitals suddenly soaring. If the policy of the Government is to pass legislation which will have the inevitable result of increasing public hospital work to a very marked degree it has the duty also to ensure that the added burden does not fall mostly upon those who happen to be contributing ratepayers. Such ratepayers are, it must be remembered, only a section of the community.