Social Security and Opening Hospitals to the Whole Population: First Signs of a Global Public Health Policy (1914–1941)

To understand the current hospital system requires a look at the past, while the dominant role taken by hospitals in all care facilities results from the belated acceptance of public hospitalisation in the 19’th century. The opening of the care establishments to all the population was, at the start of the 20’th century, considered impossible insofar as they were specialized in receiving only the destitute. After the First World War the work undertaken on social security encouraged the public authorities to think again about possible trends ahead for the hospitals. In fact the application of the laws of 1928-30 then resulted in a strong increase in admissions, but also alerted the opposition of certain general practitioners grouped around the “CSMF” (“Doctors’association”) body. The social security system came to favour the “professionalisation” of the establishments, accelerated changes in their financing modes, and also facilitated the introduction of reform.