I spotted this plaque in 2013, on the wall of a building in Castlegregory. It was suggested that The National Health Insurance Society was a pre-cursor to Pay Related Social Insurance (P. R. S. I.). On the web, I have found reference to its formation but the need for a local agent is as yet unknown to me. Another for that long TO DO list. | “The National Health Insurance Act 1933 provided for the merger of 65 friendly societies to form the United Health Insurance Society. In 1942 the National Health Society announced that hospital treatment would be provided for insured people (but not their families). GP treatment had to be paid for by individuals.” “It was in this context that the Fianna Fail government decided to amalgamate the societies, with a view to making ‘all the assets of the society available for all the members’64 through the National Health Insurance Act of 1933. The act replaced the 83 branches of Approved Societies, formerly responsible for administering health insurance, with a single National Health Insurance Society, Cumann an Arachais Naisiunta ar Shlainte, which took over the assets and liabilities of the former societies. A provisional three-member committee of management appointed by the minister was charged with overseeing the transfer to the unified society of the activities of the Approved Societies, after which a fifteen-member committee of management was to be appointed.” |