Social
SCM 11/4/68
SOCIAL SECURITY
PLANS OUTLINED
A report, suggesting the consideration of certain aspects of social security in Hongkong, was tabled by the Inter-Departmental Working Party at the Legislative Council yesterday.
The report set out improve- ments which might be made immediately or reasonably soon, new schemes and steps to be taken towards the introduction of new schemes.
Tabling the report the Hon M. D. Irving Gass, the Colonial Secretary, said it set out clearly the present arrangements in respect of workmen's com- pensation, sickness allowance and medical care, indicated contin- gencies which at present were inadequately covered and made recommendations for further protection in the future.
He said, however, that the Council would not imagine that all the suggestions would prove possible or capable of implemen-
occur wy plans detailed
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It was the ordinary run of patients that would present a problem as obviously the ques- tion
priority, labour legislation should be enacted as soon as possible to create, for employed women, a right to adequate maternity leave and protection from loss of em-
of whether the patient ployment due to pregnancy on
should be charged a full economic fee, a normal fee or should not be charged at all would depend on a means test.
Particular classes of cases employment injuries and traffic accidents should present little difficulty as the need to raise the charge would be determined by the circumstances in which the injury occurred.
The report said that the in troduction of medical insurance would have to be preceded by investigations. The Inter-De- partment Working Party could not undertake this because it was a part-time working party and was not fully qualified.
However, a superficial study of the matter revealed certain problems including:
-whether medical insurance should be compulsory or not.
-the part to be played in such a scheme by private prac- titioners and hospitals pre- sently catering for patients who would become insured people.
--the possible need to in- crease Government medical ser- vices should private practi- tioners be unwilling to become associated with the scheme and to meet the consequent need for visiting patients at home.
-the role of unregistered medical persons permitted to practice under the Medical Clinics Ordinance.
Whether herbalists who were likely to continue to be consult- ed by large numbers of the pub- lic seeking medical treatment would have any part to play in a scheme of this nature.
The preliminary view of the scheme was that it be confined to people whose earnings or income did not exceed a certain level.
According to the report, in the particular circumstances of Hongkong, where the contrasts of living are so marked, a scheme to cover all the popula- tion would seem unrealistic.
Regarding maternity protec- tion, the report stated that while social insurance for cash mater- nity benefit merited only a low
confinement.
**
This was a consideration of particular and immediate impor- tance.
The report suggested nine new schemes which might be consi- dered by Government.
They were social insurance for sickness benefit, social in- surance for medical care, social insurance for old age and sur- vivorship benefit, practical as- sistance for widows, social in- surance for employment injury benefit, social insurance for cash maternity benefit, social insur- ance for invalidity benefit, re- dundancy fund, and social in- surance for unemployment bene- fit.
The suggested steps to be taken towards the introduction of new schemes were that a full-time commission on social security be established, a re- search unit be set up, minimum be reviewed wage legislation and public expenditure on social services also be reviewed.
The commission should be set up to work out a programme of social security and the research unit should be established as 'a matter of urgency to enquire into outworkers (people who do work at home) and subsistence living. The research unit also should carry out other preli- minary investigations as neces sary.
Suitable minimum wage legis- lation should be prepared for use if this was found to be necessary by investigations, in- cluding those relating to out- workers and subsistence living.
Public expenditure on social services should be reviewed with due regard to the need for a planned social security program- me and to certain financial advantages.
The Working Party, composed of officers of the different De- partments closely associated with social security, was established early in 1966.
It was formed to examine what is already being done in Hong- kong in this field and to suggest what improvements might be made.
Mr Gass said the report was a useful one and already was being studied by the various Depart- ments concerned.
He said that as well as the work so far carried out by the Working Party, it was planned to examine more closely the wider- reaching proposals on social in- surance for sickness benefit.
"Although I must confess that I see some formidable difficulties in devising a scheme which would not be susceptible to fraud or pensive," Mr Gass said.
be impossibly ex-
He added: "In the Hongkong context I have serious doubts also about the practicability of the proposal for social insurance for medical care and about the general acceptability of the pro- posal for social insurance for old age and survivorship benefit.”
Mr Gass said that in relation to cash maternity benefit, invali- dity benefit, unemployment benefit and the establishment of a redundancy fund, he could not hold much hope for the imple- mentation of such schemes in the foreseeable future.
He said that the Working Party intended to examine the proposals in greater detail but there was much which lay out- side present capabilities.
N
33
2 2 AFR 1968
PAB15/6
Rm 318 PIA fil 88414
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