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74 (i
v. social movements.
(2) 25 öre for each day of illness, exclusive of Sundays, for which sick
allowance has been granted in the year next preceding, provided that in any case
the amount shall not be less than 50 ore, nor exceed 2 kr. per member.
(3) One fourth of the expenditure of the sickness benefit society during the
year next preceding for medical assistance and medicine supplied to members,
but not more than 1 krona per member.
Concurrently with the issue of the new law, the State grant for the
furtherance of the sickness society movement was raised from 500 000 to 1 256 800 kr.
Maternity Benefit. There are no regulations in the Act of 1910 which
render sickness benefit societies liable to provide maintenance in cases of
childbirth, that is, maternity benefit (moderskapshjälp). However, the question of
maternity insurance has attracted great attention in Sweden as well as other
countries. In 1911 a proposal, drawn up in the Home Office by specially
appointed experts, for compulsory maternity insurance for women of the labouring
classes, was brought forward. However, owing to the criticism with which this
proposal was battered from divers quarters, it was never laid before the Riksdag.
In lieu of it, a Royal Bill was introduced in the Riksdag in 1912, providing
for the disbursement of a special State subsidy to those sickness benefit societies
which voluntarily furnish their female members with maternity benefit. The
Royal Decree of the 6th December 1912 on the subject contains substantially
the following regulations.
Sickness benefit societies registered under the Act of 1910, and which, in
conformity with the regulations, have disbursed maternity relief to their female
members, shall be entitled to receive in return for this a State subsidy,
provided that the said maternity benefit is paid during a certain period ensuing in
close proximity on the birth of the child, of at least 14 (and not exceeding 42)
days; that such relief shall only be paid to women who belonged to a registered
sick fund continuously for at least 270 days previous to the child-birth; and
that a woman during the period in which she is in receipt of maternity benefit
shall abstain from work in pursuit of a livelihood. The State contribution is 60
ore for each day for which maternity benefit (at least 90 ore per day) has been
dispensed.
The new law of 1910 has manifestly been greeted hailed with great
satisfaction, it has been largely instrumental in bringing greater system and uniformity
into the Swedish sickness fund movement. Thus at the termination of the year
1914 more than half of the sick funds in Sweden, aggregating in round figures
500 000 members, would appear already to have accomodated themselves. to the
new legislation. As for maternity relief in particular, it has also been received
with open arms. Thus already now two years after the issue of the Royal
Decree, approximately 80 000, that is, about half of all women insured against
illness, would appear to have made provision for maternity relief.
Pension Funds. In sequence to the above review of the Sickness Benefit
Societies, it would seem appropriate to give a brief account of that kind of
societies which are generally lumped together under the appellation of
pension funds (pensionskassor). The pension funds that exist in Sweden
are very manifold in status and mode of operations. The majority are so
far exclusive that to obtain admission it is necessary to have a permanent
post. In many cases they are obligatory. Quite a number of these institutions
have been established for a certain corps of officials employed in the public
service, and a good many of them are intended for officials and workpeople
in private emploj*-, ,guch as, for example in railway and industrial enterpri-
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