Mr. Donal Clancy:

I started by staying we have an essential care ethos. I want to cross over where we talk about essential care. Laya Healthcare believes that where somebody receives a bill for an orthopaedic hip and he or she has 80% coverage, the remaining 20% is a great deal of money and many people cannot afford it in this day and age. We believe that across the board, one should have a basic set of benefits that provides essential care. That is the ethos by which we operate.

I refer to the issue of the non-advanced products. Whether we like it or not, this is a public product that covers up to 66% of all private care. That leaves a client 34% short, which is a significant amount. The per diem rate in many institutions is between €800 and €900 per day and there is the fixed price of the procedure, which could be anything between €2,000 and €30,000.

Unfortunately, many of them are up at €30,000 for those needing essential care. I do not believe getting 66% of that covered is worth it or it would not cover the individual for much.

Senator Healy Eames mentioned plan C. First, those on plan C are not getting good value. They should come and talk to us.