Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask about the hospital bed utilisation credit.

Currently, the loading is based on age. It appears that under the definition of hospital bed utilisation credit people are being incentivised to remain in hospital beds and that the greater bed utilisation is the more an insurer will be paid. I thought the objective was to keep people out of hospital. As such, insurers should be encouraging patients to undergo screening to identify a disease at an early stage and have it treated in a primary care setting. It appears that under the definition of hospital bed utilisation credit the incentive is to make use of hospital beds and that the greater the number who go into hospital the more the insurer will receive. I accept that the objective is to try to get a measure of a person's health and have the insurance loading based on this. I also accept the principle of what the Minister is trying to do. However, I question this as a mechanism by which to do so. Is it not possible to come up with a better definition of a person's health and to have the risk equalisation based on a formula other than acute hospital bed utilisation which surely is a poor mechanism?