Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I also thank Ms Loughnane for her presentation. One main point she raised was the need to focus on the outcome, as opposed to the funding model, and she stated that focusing on funding is putting the cart before the horse. Committee members fear and wish to avoid producing another report that sits on a shelf because they have not taken cognisance of how the model will be funded. While it is important to lay out a vision as to where we are going over the next ten years, from my perspective we must be cognisant of how we will fund that vision at different points along that ten-year period and beyond. Ms Loughnane made reference to Aneurin Bevan, the Labour Party Minister in the United Kingdom, and when one considers the public system in which universal health care is available, is there evidence within that universal system of a move away from private health care? On the point that public care expenditure accounted for 77% of health spending in 2013, does private insurance account for the majority of the remaining expenditure on health care?