ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author, Arthur Newsholme, recollects and reflects upon his experiences in public health. The history of the enactment of insurance against sickness forms an important chapter in the social history of Britain. The Sickness Insurance Act secured important help to the insured, who could promptly be consulted without fee for each attendance. At the initiation of the British Scheme the Chancellor of the Exchequer availed himself of advice obtainable from Friendly Societies and from the less desirable industrial insurance societies, which unlike the smaller Friendly Societies had no real self-government by the insured. But until the National Insurance Bill had been framed, there had been no adequate consultation between the Local Government Board and the Chancellor. The British Medical Association were well aware that a scheme of Sickness Insurance was being incubated, and their Council had been steadily studying the subject and formulating a policy for medical practitioners.
