Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The point I am making is that if the Department repeatedly does what it did last year and expects a different result, it is probably being over-optimistic. For instance, there was a shortfall of €85 million in income from private insurance companies because they ran a campaign advising patients that they should not be admitted as private patients unless they felt there would be a benefit to them in a public hospital. That is a substantial hole in a budget of €85 million. The Minister of State might speak about that first. How can this hole be filled? Sláintecare speaks of removing private care from public hospitals. There will be a hole of €625 million or €635 million if that were to happen over a period. It is happening at present, however, because insurance companies are adopting a different policy in respect of their policyholders, advising them not to sign that they are private patients when going into public hospitals because they will probably get exactly the same treatment as a public patient. Obviously, this will happen year on year, so how will it be addressed in this year's service plan?