Dr. Conor Keegan:

Another important point is that having private health insurance only allows one to skip the queue for elective care. The vast majority of private care in public hospitals is emergency care. If one is hit by a car for example, it does not matter if one is a private or public patient. One will not jump a queue and will be seen in the same time by the same consultants. The value of holding private health insurance in that context has to be questioned. The benefit of skipping the queue is only seen only for a small proportion of private activity.