Mr. CHANCELLORasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether any doctor on the panel will be perfectly free to refuse any patient whom the insurance committee desire to allot to him; and whether such refusal can in any way operate to the detriment of such doctor?
§ Mr. MASTERMANAs I stated, in answer to the hon. Member for Stirlingshire, on 6th January, any doctor on the panel has a preliminary right of refusing any particular insured person who applies to be placed on his list. It will be the duty of the insurance committee to make such arrangements as are suitable for medical benefit for any patients who are thus refused by the doctor of their first choice; and these arrangements must be as far as practicable in agreement with the doctors themselves. Insurance committees may ask the doctors in any district to agree each to accept a proportion of insured persons who may be refused attendance by the doctors of their first choice; or the insured person may be invited to make another choice of a doctor willing to accept him, or some other arrangement may be made by the committee for his medical attendance and treatment. The latter part of my hon. Friend's question is put in rather general terms, but in ordinary circumstances the results of a doctor refusing a particular insured person would be merely that he 1687W would not be responsible for and would not receive remuneration in respect of that insured person.