Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 28 November 2013
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children
Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Discussion
10:40 am
Mr. Jim Dowdall:
I will try to answer a number of questions at the same time because some of them have consistent themes. I will return to the question asked by Senator Colm Burke about how to implement the cap of €30 million in respect of charges for private beds in public hospitals.
That is simple. The Minister has been provided with the detail through the HIA, which demonstrates what their rates would need to be to collect an additional €30 million. The rates in current legislation will collect between €117 million and €130 million. The easy answer to Senator Burke's question is the Minister needs to use the data provided by HIA and amend the rates. That can be done quickly.
There were a number of questions about how we actively target older people and so on. This was important to GloHealth when we entered the market. There is a great deal of confusion about the proliferation of plans. We have a simple range of plans, which are clear and easy to understand, and they are all priced at the same rate per plan regardless of people's age or health status. However, it is not just about-----