MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR THE MIDDLE CLASSES
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Evidently I did not make my suggestion clear. I had no intention of proposing that for a subscription of, say, £5 any person might claim a hospital bed, hospital treatment, and specialist surgery. Nor did I think of asking for charity fees. I had in mind a scheme of mutual insurance where the members joining bring the law of averages into play, as in all insurance. The rates payable would easily be determined by the actuaries, and there would naturally be certification by the hospital staff that operations or specialist treatment were necessary.
The benefits seemed to me to be twofold. The hospital or hospitals concerned would have an assured income, and would be able to open for the use of patients under the scheme wards now closed. The subscribing members would say to themselves, " Of the thousands who belong to our Society only a percentage will need the medical or surgical treatment for which we insure. But I shall sleep the better for knowing that I am protected if, unfortunately, I am one of that per- centage. If I escape, I have at least the satisfaction of knowing that my subscription provides for others in their
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