The only way we have to mark our disapproval of the manner in which sickness insurance benefits are administered under the National Health Insurance Commissioners is when this Vote is being discussed. It appears to me that in a big percentage of cases the money that goes in procuring National Health Insurance stamps and the stamps in insurance cards is taken under false pretences. I do not say that that is entirely the fault of the Local Government Department, or the fault of the Minister responsible, but the actual practical situation is that when people go to look for sickness insurance benefits, and when they are certified by the certifiers, they find it practically impossible to get benefits extracted out of the societies. People who have been contributing for long periods, some of them for a period of several years, and getting their cards stamped regularly, naturally expect when they become ill, and when they get a certificate from the doctor, that they should be entitled without undue delay to draw insurance benefits. I have been certifying for a considerable number of years for a number of societies—roughly, seven or eight societies— and my experience is that it is rare that any benefits are paid for the first four or five weeks of illness.
That is a very serious matter for the unfortunate people who have no other source of income at the time they are ill unless the benefits to be derived from the National Health Insurance. It has very serious effects on those people. Take, for instance, the mental anxiety of a father who has no source of income and no means of providing the extra nourishment that a person acutely ill would require. The mental anxiety, apart from the physical disability in not being able to diet himself properly, is a very serious consideration.
A big percentage of the insurance certificates are issued for acute illnesses, illnesses that last over a period of one, two or three weeks. It is found in actual practice that people seriously ill for a period of only one or two weeks will not seek certificates at all because of the difficulty experienced in getting benefit from the society. These people rush back to work before they are physically fit to work and the result very often is that their health is permanently impaired and they become chronic invalids; they become a perpetual drain on the State or on the insurance societies with which they are insured.
I have in mind at the moment a particular case, a man to whom I have been issuing certificates for a period of months. The last payment he got was on 1st January this year. He has had no notification from the society that his benefits have been reduced or cut off. He has written to the society and has not even got a reply. I think the Minister, in view of the large amount of public money which is being allocated for the purpose of providing benefits for the people who are ill, should take steps to see that the benefits are made available at the time they are most required.