In Britain before 1911, the vast majority of the population provided m
edical care for themselves and had evolved a variety of schemes that c
hecked the power of organized medicine and encouraged a steady improve
ment in standards. The evidence is that at the end of the nineteenth c
entury about 5-6 percent of the population relied on the poor law, 10-
15 percent on free care from charitable institutions, 75 percent on mu
tual aid, and the remainder paid fees to private doctors.