asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health if consideration will be given to the introduction of a system of contributory insurance under the National Health Insurance Acts for the purpose of providing adequate cash benefits as compensation for loss of wages to persons compelled to leave their employment in order to obtain medical and convalescent treatment for tuberculosis.
Ceisteanna.—Questions. Oral Answers. - Tuberculosis Treatment—Contributory Insurance Proposal.
Under the National Health Insurance Acts no distinction is made between different kinds of incapacity, and the benefit is not related to the amount of the wages lost through incapacity. To provide cash benefits as compensation for loss of wages in cases of insured persons suffering from a particular disease would introduce an entirely new principle in health insurance. It would, moreover, involve the division of the insured population into wage classes with a special rate of contribution and of benefit appropriate to each class. The reply, therefore, to the Deputy's question is in the negative.