Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with everything said by Deputy Conway about the money owed to the HSE. It is wrong that people in the private health insurance sector who take in a huge amount of money and use public health services that are needed more by people who do not have health insurance can leave hospitals and the HSE in particular with such heavy outstanding bills. This should be rectified. People working in the private health insurance business are usually paid huge sums of money and they should get their act together, get the pen out and start filling out the cheques for the HSE.

I know the index also covers Aviva Health Insurance, Laya Healthcare and the VHI. The Aviva Health Insurance presentation shows that in 2011, there were 494,931 people in the category marked "17 and under". There has been a drop of 127,000 in the category relating to people between the ages of 18 and 29 since 2011. Once people are over 17 years, their premium doubles and probably reaches €600 or €700. I understand some of these people may not be in the country because of the age bracket and because people may have gone away. Part of the problem is that when people reach 18 and go into the next bracket, the cost takes them out of it. Part of this cost has to do with the fact that many people aged 18 and upwards, particularly those aged up to 23 or 24, are still in college and do not have earnings. The people who are keeping them are the parents, many of whom are not working. The health insurance sector should look at raising the age level and not putting students in an adult age bracket even though they are adult-aged.

On Sunday, I attended the accident and emergency department at my local hospital as my daughter fell and sprained her ankle very badly. It cost me €100 compared with the €255 quoted by the VHI clinic I rang. I was quoted €95 for what was basically an X-ray. I do not think any private health insurance company can justify charging €95 for an X-ray on a teenager's foot. It is appalling.