Social Security Act
- When
- 14 September 1938
- Reach
- Nationwide
Free hospital care, subsidised doctors’ visits and universal benefits from cradle to grave — among the most comprehensive welfare systems in the world at the time.
The Act pulled pensions, family allowances, unemployment, sickness and invalids’ benefits into one system funded by a dedicated tax, and added a national health service. The British Medical Association fought the general practitioner scheme hard and won a compromise of fee-for-service subsidies rather than salaried doctors, an arrangement whose consequences are still visible in New Zealand primary care.
Regions affected
Sources
Written for this project from these references rather than copied from them. Follow a link to check the account against the original.
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