Word: health
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Most of the country's 2,800 doctors are in the plan. A bit more than half the premiums is paid by employees, the remainder by employers and government. Denmark, beginning with health co-operatives in 1891, has had a compulsory system since 1933. Of Denmark's 4,000,000 people, all those over 15 years of age must now register with recognized health insurance cooperatives and contribute premiums equaling up to $10 yearly. But benefits depend on individual income. Those who have more than $1,700 a year after taxes are not eligible for free medical treatment...
France has had compulsory health insurance since 1928. It now covers 30 million, or 75% of the population, including the republic's President but not its lawyers, doctors and landowning farmers. Regional councils, elected by premium-paying workers and employers, manage the program...
Funds are derived from a 12% social security levy on payrolls, half contributed by employees and half by employers. Patients may choose any doctor. Doctors merely sign forms with which patients claim reimbursement from their insurance. By now an ingrained habit, the principle of health insurance is beyond political argument...
Italy has kept the national health insurance introduced by Mussolini in the '20s. Almost 15 million of a working population of 25 million participate. Premiums, contributed equally by employers and employees, amount to 3% of white collar, and 5% of manual worker salaries. The insurance organization has a salaried staff of 600 doctors who serve members, but the main medical burden is borne by 15,000 of the country's independent practitioners. Their bills are paid half by the insurance, half by the insured...
...last year enacted a compulsory program of free drugs, in which the government would pay pharmacists for all prescriptions. But doctors have refused to cooperate, i.e., write prescriptions on government forms; they say free medicine has led to "tonic swilling" in nearby New Zealand. Parliament is also weighing compulsory health insurance that would pay half of every citizen's doctor bills from the public treasury. Doctors don't like this scheme either; they argue it will bring "a third party into the traditional intimate and confidential relationship between doctor and patient...