The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-01-20
SICKNESS INSURANCE..


Just as the ..safety first movement
is the result of liability and compensa-
ton laws that have made it profitable
for employers to prevent injuries to
their employees. SO the movement for
lettering the health of workers must
receive it's greatest impetus as the
result Of sickness insurance laws that
will make it profitable for employers
to keep their employees well.
This, in brief, is the principle set
forth in an article in the weekly health
reports of the United States public
health service. A study has been
made. of sickness insurance systems
in European countries and a system
proposed for the United States. The
prediction is made that changing
conditions in the United States will
sooner or later, as in other countries,
force the enactment of law provtd-
ing for sickness insurance."
The two points which are empha-
sized in this article are the growing
necessity for providing for the care Of
workers VIII obecome i'll and the prac-
ticableness Of such method as a
factor in preventing sickness and the
destituticn which results from sick
ness. The fact that SO many workers
have an income insufficient or barely
sufficient to subsist on is evidence OF
their inability to provide for them
selves and their families in times Of
ill health. The state and the COM
munity can do much to prevent some
conditions that breed disease, but with
present conditions they cannot either
make the workers save enough to pay
for adequate medical attention and
support during illness or make the
employers realize that it pays. as a
simple business proposition, to prevent
sickness among their employees. The
result is that a large percentage of
workers are helpless because of
ill health and become burden on the
community and the nation.
To provide means to supply this
lack in the machinery Of promoting
health, a form Of sickness insurance
is suggested in the article that will
embody the successful features of
European experience and contain
notifications rendering it applicable
to American conditions and ideals.
Probably the most striking feature
Of the plan is the fact that it is to be
supported and governed not by en-
plOyers or the state alone, but by in
sured employees. employers. commu-
nifty and the state. The funds, as sug
gested, would be provided by contri-
buttons as follows: Insured persons
SO to So per cent; employers, 1914
per cent; community or state 10 per
cent. The amount of weekly contri-
buttons is roughly placed at SO cents
per person per week from all sources.
The benefits, as well as other features,
are described as follows:
sit must be operated on a strictly
mutual basis, with the smallest pos
sible expense for administration. On
this account. insurance operated for
profit should be eliminated from this
field.
1.-The study of the experience in the
field of sickness insurance shows prac-
tically unanimous conclusions that the.
following provisions are necessary to-
the success of any plan:
"O) 1t must be compulsory, espe-
cially for those with small incomes :.
CD cash benefits, not to exceed two-1
thirds Of the wages, for a period OF not
more than twenty-six weeks in one
calendar year: CD invalidity benefits,
elastic in character; % a small death
benefit sufficient to meet the ordinary
expenses of burial and other immedi-
to include medical and surgical relief
in home, hospital or sanatorium. as.
necessary, and medicine, appliances,
and specialists services, Including
dentistry"