Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Second part - XVI. Labour Legislation and Social Statistics - 2. Social Condition and Social Statistics - Sick-Relief and Burial Funds, by H. Burström, Actuary at the Royal Central Bureau of Statistics
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1092 xvi. labour legislation and social statistics of sweden.
voluntary assistance, continued and, chiefly since about 187;’), made
considerable progress. As specially effective contributive factors to
this end have proved the numerous social movements prevailing during
the last few decades, beyond all among the working classes, such as
the temperance movement, trade union work, and religious movements,
which in many cases have aimed at the establishment of sick-relief
and funeral funds (■» funds within private circles» and tirade funds-).
partly also the present re-organization of our industrial life, which
has made the establishment of similar funds possible in the larger
factories and works (»factory funds*). A fourth group among the present
sick-relief and funeral funds constitute the so-called »general funds-..
organized after the same pattern as the old guilds, the greatest number
of these comprising the so-called »Hundred Men Societies», which
originated about 1875.
According to the quinquennial reports of the Governors, whose returns in
this respect can, however, hardly claim to be complete, there existed at the end
of 1895, in the whole Kingdom, 1,519 self-help funds for the rendering of
assistance in cases of sickness or death. Out of the total amount expended for
support, as well as of the capital on hand, no less than 1/s of the grand total for
the whole Kingdom is ascribed to Stockholm alone. The number of members
in all the funds may in round figures be estimated at 300,000, comprising
about 6 % of the population, against nearly 140,000 members in 1884, or 3 \
of the population. — The largest funds are the Sick-relief and Burial Fund of
the Temperance Friends (Nykterhetsvännernas allmänna sjuk- och begrafningskassa;
17,217 members at the end of 1900) and the Sick-relief Fund of the Temperance
People (Nykterhetsfolkets sjukkassa; 10,799 members), both with a sphere of
action embracing the whole Kingdom, and, further, the Stockholm association
»Unity Gives Strength» (Enighet ger styrka; 12,051 members).
Of the 1,519 funds in 1895, 1,251 granted both sick-relief and burial
assistance, 117 sick-relief but not burial assistance, and 151 burial assistance but
not sick-relief. Among these funds, however, there exist not a few that
bestow-other benefits upon their members than support in cases of sickness and death,
such as assistance in cases of emergency, temporary support, pensions, or support
for maintenance in old age, traveling aid, improvement in social and intellectual
respects, etc. In some funds insurance holds good for the wives, children, and
widows of the members. Entrance is obligatory in most factory funds.
Employers contribute, as a rule, to some extent, either with cash or an equivalent,
e. g., free medical advice, free medicine, or the like.
Altogether, during 1895, something like 49,000 persons or their relations
received support from these funds to the amount of 1,800,000 kronor. The balance
of the funds at the close of the year amounted to about 5,675,000 kronor, and
during the same year the fees of the members amounted to about 2,250,000 kronor.
As mentioned, the Swedish sick-relief system has developed
independently, without any intervention of the State to the introduction
of obligatory sick insurance. Of later years the State has to a
certain extent come forward as a patron of the sick-relief fund movement,
namely by means of the law of October 30, 1891. relating to Registered
sick-relief funds, the establishing of which law constitutes one among
the results of the exertion of the first Workers’ insurance committee.
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