With regard to Deputy Dockrell's question, dental benefits are available to all members of the society who have the necessary contributions to their credit. It does not follow that all members of the society who require dental treatment will, in fact, be able to secure it, but, in the current year particularly, a generous allocation for dental benefit has been possible by reason of the fact that other special benefits were not operating. The hospital benefit scheme was not operating, and there has been a transfer of a substantial sum of money, £41,000 in 1942-43, from the other special benefits to the Dental Benefit Fund. In the current year the sum available for dental benefits will amount to approximately £210,000.
With regard to the question raised by Deputy Norton as to special provision for insured persons suffering from tuberculosis under the National Health Insurance Scheme, no such special provision has been made so far, nor have I had any representations from the society to the effect that they propose to make any special provision for the treatment of tubercular patients. Insured persons do get preference in sanatoria under the control of local authorities and of voluntary agencies. But, if additional provision is to be made for the proper care and treatment of tubercular patients and of their dependents during the time of illness, it certainly will involve very heavy financial commitments. I do not think it would be appropriate on the Vote before the House to go into that, inasmuch as the scope of this Vote is very limited.
On the general question of making provision for insured persons under the National Health Insurance Act, such special provision can only be made by the sacrifice of some of the benefits already available to insured persons, unless the finances of the scheme are altered. When we come to consider how the finances of the scheme might be altered in order that more money might be available within the financial structure for special benefits for a particular purpose, namely, the treatment of all tubercular patients, we have to turn our minds to the possible sources where the additional contributions would be found. It seems to me there are only three sources within the scheme: the insured person, the employer, and the State. It has not been brought to my notice, so far at any rate, that either the insured persons or the employers are prepared to give special contributions for the purpose of financing special benefit schemes such as a particular benefit for tubercular patients. I do not know what the reaction of the general insured population would be to such a proposal, inasmuch as the levy would have to be general on the whole insured population for the benefit of a comparatively small section of it. There is, of course, left to them the third alternative—the shoulders of the State. I can say, so far as the State is concerned, that the burden of taxation is mounting fairly rapidly. On occasion there is a good deal of criticism of that. I do not accuse Deputy Norton of criticising expenditure for public health purposes, but it seems to me there is a limit to the social services that can be financed, a limit, at any rate, to the money that the State can place at the disposal of the community for these various social services.
If the society, in their wisdom, put up a scheme to us embodying special benefits for members of the society suffering from tuberculosis, it will certainly be examined with the greatest possible sympathy. But it is open to doubt whether, if we have to transfer moneys from, say, dental or hospital benefits in order to provide special benefits for a very limited section, that is a sound public health proposition. As I have said, the whole problem of tuberculosis is one of the greatest problems we have to face in the future. Whatever our solution for that problem may be, it will apply equally to insured and to other sections of the community. But, if we are to tackle it in the manner in which it might be necessary to tackle it, and if a satisfactory solution is to be found, we will have to be able to lay our hands on enormous sums of money.