Care for the Caring: Medical Sickness Annuity and Life Assurance Society Ltd., 1884-1984

London: Henry Melland . Very Good/Very Good. 1984. First Edition. Hard Cover. 8vo 0907929052 Dust jacket complete, unclipped. Red cloth boards with bright gilt titling. No ownership marks. Frontis, illustrations, photographs. 240 pages clean and tight. A letter to the British Medical Journal in 1882 told how a doctor had to visit a patient six miles away, in rain and snow, whilst suffering from jaundice, an ulcerated throat and a temperature of 102 degrees! He could not afford a locum and suggested a Friendly Society should be formed. This provoked much correspondence but the difficulties were formidable. They were overcome, largely due to the efforts of the first Chairman, a most remarkable and controversial character. The problems faced by the young Society included demands for more generous benefits, which could have brought disaster. Changes in medical practice were taking place and the motor car, supplementing the horse, brought new risks of accident. Then came the First World War with heavy demands on the medical profession. In 1920 the Society became a Mutual Insurance Company. Subsequent growth, checked by the Second World War, and how the National Health Service affected doctors' need for insurance, is described. The development of Permanent Health Insurance and the offer of cover to persons outside the medical and dental professions are part of the story. From 300 members, each paying an entrance fee of 10s 6d in 1884, has grown an Insurance Company with assets of over £100m. This story tells of the problems which arose and of the men who overcame them. .