Hospitals Benefits Agreement Act 1948 (WA)

No. 58] Hospital Benefits Agreement. [1948.

HOSPITAL BENEFITS

AGREEMENT.

12° and 13° GEO. VI., No. LVIII.

No. 58 of 1948.

AN ACT to authorise the Execution by or on behalf of the State of an Agreement between the Common- wealth and the State in relation to Hospital Benefits.

[Assented to 21st January, 1949.]

BE it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty,by and with the advice and consent of the Legis- lative Council and Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows

Short title. 1. This Act may be cited as the Hospital Benefits

Agreement Act, 1948.

Execution at

Agreement 2. The execution by or on behalf of the State of an

authorised. Agreement between the Commonwealth and the State substantially in accordance with the form of agreement contained in the Schedule to this Act is hereby authorised.

1948. ] Hospital Benefits Agreement. [No. 58.

SCHEDULE.

Agreement made the day of

One thousand nine hundred and forty- , between the Common-

wealth of Australia (hereinafter called "the Commonwealth") and

the State of	(hereinafter called "the
State"):

Whereas on the day of

One thousand nine hundred and forty- , the Commonwealth entered into an agreement (hereinafter called "the principal agree- ment") with the State in pursuance of the Hospital Benefits Act, 1945 whereby the Commonwealth granted to the State financial assistance to enable it to make hospital services more fully available to the people of the State upon and subject to the terms and condi- tions set out in the principal agreement:

And whereas it is desired to amend the principal agreement in the manner hereinafter appearing:

Now it is hereby agreed as follows:—

1.

This agreement shall not have any force or effect unless and until authorised or approved by the Parliament of the State.

2.

Clause 1 (or clause 2 as the case may be) of the principal agreement is amended by omitting the definitions of "public hospi- tal," "qualified person," "the Commonwealth Hospital Benefit Ex- penditure Rate for Public Wards," "the Commonwealth Hospital Benefit Rate for Non-Public Wards," and "the Commonwealth Hospi- tal Benefit Rate for Public Wards" and substituting the following definitions

"public hospital" means a hospital which

(a)	is ordinarily recognised as a public hospital; and
(b)	is in receipt of a grant for maintenance from the

State,

and includes a State institution used for hospital purposes and a ward in any other institution maintained or subsidised by the State which is used for hospital purposes and is for the time being approved by the Commonwealth, but does not include a public ward in a tuberculosis hospital within the meaning of the Tuberculosis Act, 1945, of the Commonwealth or a public ward in any hospital or part of a hospital the maintenance expenditure of which by the State is subject to an agreement under the Tuberculosis Act, 1948;

"qualified person" means a person who was ordinarily resident in Australia at the time of admission to a public hospital and is occupying a bed for the purpose of hospital treatment and includes, where two or more children are born at one birth, any child born at that birth in excess of one, and also any newly born child except during the time the mother of that child is occupying a bed, but does not include the per- sons referred to in subclause (1) of clause 3A hereof;

No. 58] Hospital Benefits Agreement. [1948.

"the Commonwealth Hospital Benefit Rate for Non-Public

Wards" means

(a) in relation to the period from the date of commence- ment of this agreement until the thirty-first day of October, 1948—an amount of Six shillings;

(b) in relation to the remainder of the term of this agree- ment—an amount of Eight shillings, or such other amount as is, from time to time, agreed upon be- tween the Commonwealth and the State;

"the Commonwealth Hospital Benefit Rate for Public Wards"

means-

(a) in relation to the period from the date of commence- ment of this agreement until the 30th day of June, 1948—an amount of Six shillings;

(b) in relation to the remainder of the term of this agree- ment—an amount of Eight shillings, or such other amount as is, from time to time, agreed upon be- tween the Commonwealth and the State.

3. After clause 3 of the principal agreement the following clauses

are inserted:—

3A. (1) The following persons shall not be qualified persons

for the purposes of this agreement

(a)	a member of the staff of a public hospital receiving treat- ment in his or her own quarters;
(b)	a person the whole of whose hospital fees (hereafter in this clause referred to as "fees") are paid or payable (directly or indirectly) by the Commonwealth;

(c) a person who has received, may receive or is entitled to receive, whether by way of damages or otherwise, the whole of his fees, or an amount representing in whole or in part the whole of his fees, under any law (includ- ing the common law) in force in the State, or in settle- ment of a claim under any such law; and

(d) a person the whole of whose fees are payable by any other

person under any law in force in the State.

(2) In the case of a person--

(a) portion of whose fees are paid or payable (directly or

indirectly) by the Commonwealth;

(b) who has received, may receive or is entitled to receive, whether by way of damages or otherwise, portion of his fees, or an amount representing in whole or in part portion of his fees, under any law (including the com- mon law) in force in the State, or in settlement of a claim under any such law; or

1948.] Hospital Benefits Agreement. [No. 58.

(c) portion of whose fees are payable by any other person

under any law in force in the State,

the portion of the fees, or the portion of an amount representing fees, referred to in this subelause shall, for the purposes of this subelause, he deducted from the total hospital fees payable in respect of the hospital treatment of that person and the number (calculated to the nearest whole number) arrived at by dividing the remaining amount by the daily hospital fee shall be deemed to be the number of days during which that person was a quali- fied person for the purposes of this agreement.

3B. (1) Where the Minister for Health of the State, or a per- son authorised by him to act under this clause, considers that the question whether, having regard to the last preceding clause, a person is, or was during any period, a qualified person cannot he satisfactorily determined for the time being, he may, by writing under his hand, direct that that person shall not be treated as being, or shall not be treated as having been during a specified period, a qualified person, and that person shall, subject to the next succeeding subclause, be deemed not to be at any time after the direction is given, or not to have been during the period (if any) specified in the direction, a qualified person for the pur- poses of this agreement.

(2) The Minister for Health of the State or a person authorised by him to act under this clause may, by writing under his hand, revoke a direction given under the last preceding sub- clause, and thereupon

(a)	the question whether the person affected by the direction is, or was during any period, a qualified person shall be determined as if the direction so revoked had not been given;
(b)	any necessary adjustment in payments by the Common-

wealth under this agreement shall be made; and

(c) the State shall ensure that any necessary adjustment in respect of hospital fees paid or payable by that person shall be made.

4. After clause 6 of the principal agreement the following clause

is inserted:—

6A. Where an agreement is entered into between the Govern- ment of the Commonwealth and the Government of an- other part of His Majesty's dominions or of any foreign country providing for reciprocity in matters relating to hospital benefits, the Treasurer of the Commonwealth, on behalf of the Commonwealth, may enter into arrangements with the Treasurer of the State, on behalf of the State, providing for hospital benefits to be made available in accordance with the terms of that agreement to residents of that part of His Majesty's dominions or of that foreign country who are for the time being in Australia.

No. 58.] Hospital Benefits Agreement. [1948.

5.

As from the first day of July, 1948, clauses 7 and 8 (or 8 and 9 as the ease may be) of the principal agreement (dealing with amounts to be set aside by the State for capital expenditure on public hospitals and further payments to the State) shall be deemed to have ceased to have effect, but the State shall not use any amount (or interest) which has been set aside or should have been set aside in pursuance of the said clauses otherwise than for capital expenditure on public hospitals as approved by the Commonwealth.

6.    In all other respects the principal agreement is confirmed.

In witness whereof the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth and the Premier of the State have signed this amending agreement the day and year first above written.

SIGNED by the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth for and on behalf of the Commonwealth in the presence of

SIGNED by the Premier of the State for and on behalf of the State in the presence of-