A Respectable Occupation: - University of Hertfordshire Research ...

same time their private patients tended to join the friendly societies to
benefit from cheaper medicine; so the doctors were denied the subsidy that
they had provided. 188 The position was further aggravated by the Voluntary
Hospitals that provided treatment for a small fee. This annoyed the doctors
who believed that some of those treated there could well afford to consult
them privately. 189 In consequence there was an almost unanimous
determination on the part of the profession to refuse to be associated with a
new scheme involving the friendly societies. 190
This concern was reflected in another aspect of the Bill. Lloyd George
had proposed that the scheme would be compulsory for all men earning less
than £160 per year. 191 The doctors thought that this limit was set too high
and would include in the scheme even more of their private patients. They
wanted the figure to be no higher than £104 per year because many of their
private patients were earning 30s. to £3 0s. 0d. per week. It was envisaged
by the government that some men who would be excluded from the scheme
because they were earning too much, would wish to join voluntarily. The
doctors were concerned that this would deprive them of more private
patients. Mr Johnson-Hicks helped by proposing an amendment that
limited the scheme to those whose total income from all sources did not
exceed £160 per year, but the doctors continued to insist on a limit of £104
per year. 192
188 Gilbert, The Evolution of National Insurance in Great Britain, p. 311.
189 Gilbert, The Evolution of National Insurance in Great Britain, p. 305.
190 Sickness and Invalidity Insurance, British Medical Journal, (23 Apr. 1910) 1008.
191 Berridge, „Health and Medicine‟ in Thompson, (ed.) The Cambridge Social History of Britain, p. 220.
192 „Amendment of the Insurance Bill‟, British Medical Journal, (8 Jul. 1911) 86 and 130.
272