Mr. Jim Dowdall:

I will be brief. I am conscious of Senator Burke's first question, which was also raised by Deputy Kelleher, namely, competition between providers. One insurer should not be able to determine the supply, whether a new medical facility should open or whether another must close. The members' point is correct, in that medical providers should be able to find ways to innovate and bring value to customers. If customers want to use facilities, they will.

Deputy Conway made a number of points regarding the claims system. If electronic claims processing and so on offer opportunities to achieve efficiencies, they should be welcomed by everyone. We should seek ways to drive efficiencies in the public and private health sectors. GloHealth would welcome opportunities to remove the overheads associated with processing claims from the system. It adds no value for anyone.

I am happy to inform the committee that GloHealth is not sitting on claims that are due to the HSE. We process all claims in the same manner regardless of whether they relate to private or public hospitals. As soon as we have the details, we process claims in single iteration within a short number of days.

Deputy Byrne asked about costs. As my colleague from the VHI clarified, there is a student rate, but the issue should be considered. How do we attract people in the 18 to 29 years age bracket back into the market? Lifetime community rating has been mentioned. We may be able to use models and mechanisms to start making health insurance more affordable so that people can join the market. However, insurers are prohibited by regulation from offering different prices to people over the age of 18 years if they are not students. We cannot do anything for that community in pricing terms.