Volume 1
National Health Insurance. : Report [and Appendices Vols 1-4] of the Departmental Committee on Sickness Benefit Claims under the National Insurance Act.
- Great Britain. National Health Insurance Joint Committee.
- Date:
- 1914
Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Credit: National Health Insurance. : Report [and Appendices Vols 1-4] of the Departmental Committee on Sickness Benefit Claims under the National Insurance Act. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
28/570 (page 12)
![experienced, in contradistinction to most societies, a lighter rate of sickness on its private side in 1913 than in 1912 (Q. 15,058). 14. These, however, are merely isolated examples, and the general result of section 72 having been to such an extent inoperative is that the position of these millions of insured persons has been materially changed at least in this respect, that while sick they now obtain 10s. or 7s. 6<i. per week more than formerly. Except in rare cases, it is probable that the amount for which these members were previously insured was something less than the wages which they earned when at work. The addition of the benefit under the Act has in these cases completely changed the situation. In the words of one witness. if you take the case of the majority of workers earning from 25s. to 30s. a week, when they go on ill and get only 10s. a week, they begin to feel the pinch of poverty, but if they get another 10s. or 12s. a week, they do not fee] the pinch, and there is no great inducement to them to go '' back to work. (Rogers, Q. 15,391). Cases of Multi-pie Insurance. 45. Sometimes the insured person is, in addition to his State insurance, entitled to receive benefit from more than one society of this kind, and we haVe heard in evidence of numerous cases in which the insured person draws as sickness benefit a sum considerably in excess of his normal rate of remuneration. Among such cases may be noted a platelayer earning 11. Is. insured for 28s. fid. ; an apprentice hairdresser earning 7s. insured for 16s. (Shaw, Q. 6805); an employee in a dockyard earning 21. 2s. insured for 21. lis.; and another case in the same society insured for 32s. against a weekly wage of 18s. (Bunch, Q. 10,868); cases of insurance for 35s. when the wages range from 30s. upwards (Daniels, Q. 13,846) ; a labourer earning 22s. insured for 34s. (Mander, Q. 21,628) ; an agricultural labourer earning 15s. insured for 30s. (Hartop, Q. 22,368) ; a labourer earning 25s. insured for 28s. (Hodgson, Q. 25,672) ; cases of tramway employees who with the sick pay obtained from their employers may receive 21. when sick as against a wage of 32s. (Jackson, Q. 36,491) ; agricultural labourers receiving from 18s. to 22s. when sick, earning from 13s. to 14s. when at work (Dixon, Q. 39,481). From such specific cases as these and from the general observations of the witnesses on this question, it is evident that insurance for a sum in excess of the normal wage oi the person insured is now by no means uncommon. Effect of Over-insurance on Sickness Claims. 46. Even with a knowledge of such facts as these, it is, however, difficult to arrive at a decision as to the extent to which over-insurance is an effective factor in producing or prolonging sickness claims or indeed to arrive at any precise definition of over-insurance. It has been urged by some witnesses that the man who is insured in several societies is temperamentally prudent and that for the most part the spirit of thrift and foresight which leads to insurance in several societies, will only be found in the very be^t type of workman who will only claim when it is absolutely necessary to do so (Barber, Q. 8322). In particular one case was instanced, where an insured person, much over-insured in the ordinary sense, refused to draw benefit on being offered temporarily a light occupation at a wage much below the rate of benefit which it was open to him to receive (Divine, Q. 33,2 L4). It has also been argued that double insurance will not in the long run produce the effects Avhich some ascribe to it, inasmuch as the insured person is enabled to remain longer on the funds, and thereby avoid a second illness by getting completely cured from the first (Dixon, Q. 39,557 ; Johnson, Q. 26,480). Meaning of Over-insurance. 47. With regard to the meaning to be attached to the phrase over-insurance, there is also a divergence in the views expressed by the witnesses. Repeated expression was given to the theory, that, inasmuch as expenses necessarily incurred are greater in sickness than in health, no objection can be taken to an insured person receiving, when sick, benefit somewhat exceeding the wages earned when at work. When I am well, it is said, I could eat a crust of bread and cheese, and enjoy it, b t when I am ill, I cannot. I want more expensive food (Pimble, Q. 37,165). When sick, it is urged, an insured person requires more care and nursing](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21361125_001_0028.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
