Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 August 2016
The theory surrounding sickness rates has received little attention in the United Kingdom during the past two decades. This may be a consequence of the assumption by the British Government of the role of principal insurer against sickness, and the resulting reduction in numbers of those who otherwise might have turned to the traditional friendly society for sickness insurance. It is unfortunate that the decline in interest in sickness rates should have coincided with the burgeoning of the theory of stochastic processes, for sickness is a stochastic process.