Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response, which has been comprehensive. He was correct to state that health insurance is quite inelastic. I would submit that the main reason is that people are afraid of relinquishing their health insurance because they hear the horror stories about the public health system, which works very well for many people. In many cases people are afraid to rely on it, however, particularly if they have health needs or they must go for elective surgery and so on.

We all know what the waiting lists are like.

The Minister is right to say that the impact of this will be relatively modest. For example, for a single person with a premium of €1,500, the difference is €100. It would not be uncommon for a pensioner to pay maybe €2,000. That would not be an extravagant policy but this will cost €200. That would be fine if the health insurers responded to the Minister’s call to arms and set about driving down costs but there is no evidence to suggest that will happen. All the evidence points to the fact that this will be passed on to policy holders and we will see an increase in premium prices. That may not result in a substantial drop-off but some people who are on the fringes of affording health insurance may no longer be able to afford it.

The Government’s policy is to move towards universal health insurance but the figures show that there has been only a 7% drop-off in the number of people with policies despite the 86% rise in the cost. This measure will not lead to an increase in the number of people with health insurance. There will be a further drop-off and the Government is moving further from its objective of universal health insurance. On Report Stage we may table an amendment which will in some way link the thresholds at least to inflation.