Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697804423422.pdf (Ireland)
Oireachtas Library 54023001300257 NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE BILL, 1947.

Explanatory Memorandum General.

The immediate reason for the introduction of this Bill is to increase the remuneration limit for insurability in the case of non- manual workers.

This provision is made in Clause 19.


The urgency of the Bill is due to the necessity for a change in the financial arrangements governing Exchequer grants in the case of National Health Insurance and is an immediate consequence of the Government’s intention to bring into early operation a scheme of interim supplements to the benefits under the various insurance and and assistance schemes dealt with by the Minister for Social Welfare.

This provision is contained in Clause 17 of the Bill.

It, was.
It, was.

decided to take this opportunity to re-enact in permanent form the provisions of Emergency Powers Order No.

381 made in June last year.

Parts II, III, and IV of the Bill are intended to give effect to that decision.

Part I This part of the Act is in the usual form and does not require any explanation.

Clause 3.
Clause 3.

Part II This is a re-enactment of Article 3 of the Order and provides that where contributions under the National Health Insurance Act are paid in good faith by or in respect of a person who.is not, in fact, insurably employed the period in respect of which the contributions have been paid shall be deemed to be a period of insurable employment, and the person shall be deemed to have been legally insured during that period.
A person who is insured under the National Health Insurance Acts is also automatically insured under the Widows’ and Orphans* Pensions Acts.

Cases have arisen where persons in non- manual employment received payments of emergency bonus which brought their total remuneration over the income exemption limit and employers continued to stamp cards without adverting to the fact that such persons were no longer insurable.
When the fact came to light the legal insurance of such persons had,...in fact, terminated and so also had the time within which the option to become a voluntary contributor could be exercised.

To treat the person as having ceased to be in­ surably employed on the day on which, in fact, he so ceased would have created hardship and, in some cases, where widows’ pensions were involved, considerable loss.
Article 3 of the Emergency Powers Order was accordingly enacted for their protection, authorising the acceptance of the contributions as if the persons had been insurable.

Certain safeguards relating to duration of insurance are inserted to prevent fraudulent attempts at qualification.

Section 7 of the Act of 1918 is the provision relating to the right tQ become a voluntary contributor.

Section 13 refers to the "free” period of insurance after cessation of insurable employment..
The rights under both sections now begin to run from the date of the last irregular contri­ bution which the clause proposes to regularise.

As cases may arise in future the clause is not limited as to time in its application.

\ 2 Clause 4.

Under Section 13 of the Act of 1918, the insurance of a person remains effective for a period of 12 months (extended by illness) from the date of cessation of insurable employment.
Last year, a yearly, instead of a half-yearly, card was introduced in the interests of economy.

One result of this change was that the Society was not in a position to know its actual membership at the relevant dates for the purpose of determining the sum which could be allocated to admini­ stration and for other purposes of a like nature.

Whereas formerly the position of a particular member was known twice a year on surrender of the half-yearly card, it would now only be known once a year.
To remedy this position, and also to reduce the number of cases of broken insurance the "free" period is being extended to 18 months with effect from the date on which the corresponding provision was made in the Order on 14th June, 1946.

Clause 5.

Under the Act of 1936, contributions are payable in respect of soldiers except only during absence without leave for a period ex­ ceeding 21 days, which exception is made in Section 15(3) of the 1936 Act.
The Minister for Defence was under obligation to pay contri­ butions, even when a soldier was absent with leave for indefinite and fairly prolonged periods, e.g.

for harvesting operations.

This is now remedied by the clause with effect from ?th June, 1940. , The proposal will also affect contributions under the Widows’ and Orphans’ Pensions Acts as these contributions follow those payable under the National Health Insurance Acts, Clause 6.
Existing legislation provides only for the Health and Pensions insurance of men enlisting for not less than 2 years service and for men enlisting for less than 2 years service.

It makes no provision for men who enlist for the duration of an emergency.

Sub-clause (l) of this Clause provides that such men are to be insured.during their service at the special army rate for National Health Insurance and also for Widows’ and Orphans’ Pensions.
A man in the Reserve when called out for service is insurable at the army rate after the first three months.

He is only insurable during the first three months (and then at the ordinary rate) if he was an insured person when called up.

Doubt arose in the case of men who joined for the emergency and were commissioned in the Reserve and the reference in sub-clause (l) is to remove such doubt.
Members of the Construction Corps originally enlisted for less than one year and accordingly, under the 1936 Act, cards had to be stamped for them at the ordinary rate.

Sub-clauses (2) and (3) of the Clause now make them insurable at the aimy rate, with no deduction from their pay.

Clause 7.

The National Health Insurance Acts provide that persons engaged in non-manual employment at a rate of remuneration exceeding £250 a year are not insurable.

Officers of the permanent force are.


definitely excluded from insurance9 and as the insurance of soldiers generally (including reservists) is dealt with specially and separately in the Act and no express exclusion on remuneration grounds was made, doubt arose in regard to officers of the Reserve.

The object of this clause is to remove the doubt.

3 - PART III General.


The Military Forces (International Arrangements) Insurance Fund was set up in 1923 to provide for the insurance of persons who having served in the British Forces returned to this country and were, owing to the state of their health, unable to gain admission to an Approved Society.
The Fund was managed by the Minister and owing to the fact that under Statute and Reciprocal Arrangements the members had certain rights of transfer to a special fund in Great Britain and also on account of special financial transactions arising out of such transfers, the Fund still continued as a separate entity after all Approved Societies.were unified under the 1933 Act.
Following negotiations with the interested British authorities it was decided, in the interests of economy, to transfer the members, assets and liabilities of the Fund to the National Health Insurance Society and this was effected under IJnergency Powers Order on 30th September last.

Under the Reciprocal Arrangements with Great Britain proper financial allowance is made to the Society for the acceptance as members of persons who are not good risks in the in­ surance sense.
This Part gives such effect as is now necessary to the merger.

Clause 8.

This is to ensure that the three years* membership necessary to qualify for additional benefits is satisfied by former membership of the Fund.

Clause 9.

This clause provides that those persons who were formerly eligible for membership of the Fund shall be now eligible for member­ ship of the National Health Insurance Society.

Clause 10.
Clause 10.

The persons referred to in this Clause are the former members of the Military Forces Fund who are now members of the Society and persons who formerly had the right to membership of the Fund and now have the right to membership of the Society.
Special records are necessary to identify these persons in case they transfer again to Great Britain and wish to join the special fund for them in that territory, and also in order to analyse separately their sickness experience so as to ensure that the liability accepted in respect of them is fully covered by their transfer values.

Clause 11.
Clause 11.

This clause is inserted for accounting purposes only, and gives the Minister power to keep open an account for the Military Forces Fund after the date of transfer of the fund to the Society.

.

This facilitates him in dealing with the final transactions relating to the fund.

A similar provision was included in the National Health Insurance Act, 1933, in connection with the unification of Approved Societies.

Clause 12.
Clause 12.

This clause is to enable the Minister to deal finally with dis­ putes as to whether, for instance, a person was or was not a member of the Fund at the date of transfer to the Society.

Clause 13.

The enactments repealed here are the Section of the 1923 Act under which the Military Forces Fund was established and the Section of the 1933 Act under which the Society was entitled to refuse admission to a person entitled to membership of the Fund.
These enactments could not be repealed by the Order and were merely sus­ pended.

PART IV This Part deals with the position under the National Health Insurance Acts of persons who having served in the British Forces are in receipt of disability pensions in respect of that service and of other persons who are in receipt of pensions from the British Government in respect of a war disablement not due to service in the Forces.
The general principle is that the finances of the National Health Insurance Acts are based on a normal incidence of peace-time disability and were not designed to meet disability arising out of war conditions.

Clause 14.

Under this Clause, a person in receipt of an ex-service pension in the highest degree from the British Government cannot receive any benefit under the National Health Insurance Acts.
If, however, the person recovers sufficiently to engage in insurable employment to a substantial extent, he may re-qualify under the ordinary conditions.

Under the Order a further provision was included limiting benefit in the case of persons in receipt of less than 100$ pension, but ex­ perience showed that the amount saved by this,provision was negligible and the volume of correspondence and record keeping was quite out of proportion to this amount.
Accordingly, the provision is rescinded with retrospective effect.

Clause 15.

The effect of this clause is to suspend benefit under the National Health Insurance Acts if the pension or allowance is equal to or greater than the benefit and where the pension or allowance is less than the benefit to pay only the difference.

Clause 16.

This provision is to avoid hardship in case there is delay on the part of the British Authority in deciding the amount or in paying the pension or allowance, Clause 17.
Benefits under the National Health Insurance Acts are derived as to seven-ninths from contributions and two-ninths from State Grant.

Supplements are now to be paid to recipients of sickness and disablement benefit, the full cost to be an exchequer charge.
To avoid the accounting work and expense of dealing separately with payments financed by those two different methods, it is proposed to change the existing two-ninths State Grant into a grant-in-aid of estimated equal amount so that the new grant for the supplements may be accounted for together with the existing grant.

Clause 18.

This is to extend the investment powers of the Minister for Finance of the reserve funds of National Health Insurance.

Clause 19.
Clause 19.

In the case of manual workers, there is no remuneration limit for insurability, but in the case of non-manual workers persons in receipt of remuneration at a rate exceeding £250 a year are not insurable.

This Clause proposed to raise that figure to £400.

Department of Social Welfare.

14th March, 1947