Every week, every employed man and woman in Britain has to pay the State a certain sum of money as a compulsory contribution for National Insurance and National Health, in return for which the State provides certain allowances and services, e.g. in times of sickness or unemployment. The contribution is deducted from salary by the employer, who normally holds a card for each of his employees on which he has to stick National Insurance Stamps bought from the Post Office. These stamps actually cost considerably more than the amount paid by the employee; the employer has to pay the rest. Self-employed persons buy their own stamps at special rates.
It should be noted that everyone has to pay these contributions, whether or not he has occasion to use the benefits he is entitled to. It is thus quite possible for one person, a healthy bachelor for example, to pay in more than he eventually gets out in the form of benefits; while another person, such as a sickly husband with a large family, may get out much more than he pays in. This sharing of risks is the essential feature of insurance. The advantage of insurance to everybody, healthy bachelor and sickly husband alike, is protection and security.