§ 17. GODFREY LOCKER-LAMPSONasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether he has yet had an opportunity of testing the adequacy of the amount allowed per head under the National Insurance Act for the treatment of consumptives as compared with the actual cost to the Post Office Society, in which members are only admitted after satisfactorily passing a medical examination; and, if so, whether it is shown that the cost to that society, even with selected lives, has been substantially in excess of the figure (1s. 3d.) fixed under the National Insurance Act?
§ Mr. MASTERMANAs I stated in reply to the hon. Member on the 4th June, the experience of the authorities of sanatoria existing before the passing of the National Insurance Act was too limited to be of much practical value in estimating the amount required for the treatment of cases of tuberculosis under the Act; and in the case of the particular society referred to, the higher cost of administration due to the society being only concerned with the administration of a single benefit, vitiates any comparison between the cost to the society and the cost to an insurance committee under the scheme of the Act.
§ Mr. CASSELIs not the actual experience under the Act that ls. 3d. is wholly inadequate?
§ Mr. MASTERMANNo, I do not think so. It would be much too early, after only the experience we have had, to make any general statement of that sort.
§ Mr. CASSELWould the right hon. Gentleman consult the hon. Member for Walworth (Mr. Dawes), the chairman of the London Insurance Committee, on that?
§ Mr. MASTERMANI am in close consultation with all the authorities concerned with tuberculosis treatment.