§ Sir R. GOWERasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that in the case of an employer who has collected from his employés contributions to National Health Insurance by making deductions from wages each week and, having failed to stamp the insurance cards, becomes bankrupt, the employés are refused sick benefit on the ground that the contributions have not been paid for the specified period; and Whether he will consider the desirability of making provision that in such cases the workmen shall not be deprived of sick benefit?
Sir H. YOUNGUnder National Health Insurance the benefits of insured persons are not payable out of a central fund as in the case of Unemployment Insurance, but out of the funds of the approved societies and branches, of which there are 7,000, each being a separate independent financial unit. A society cannot, therefore, be required to pay benefit unless the necessary contributions have been paid into its funds. There is an interval of six months between the end of a contribution year and the beginning of the corresponding benefit year, and this enables the position with regard to any missing contributions to be adjusted in the majority of cases before any loss of benefit to the insured person can arise, particularly as unpaid insurance contributions are treated as preferential debts in bankruptcy.