Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I have great pleasure in supporting the motion. The Government has spent a political generation flinging money at every problem. The only decision it had to make was how much. As a result, there is nothing in the coffers and the Government cannot tell right from wrong, good from bad, as evidenced by the budget it produced. Many Government Deputies and, in particular, the two Ministers of State at the Department of Health and Children referred to the need to assure people and to make sure there was no confusion while the Minister of State at the Department of Finance used the rather crass term "the comfortable well to do with private health insurance". Many people who are not comfortable nor well to do have private health insurance because they have no confidence in the system over which the Minister for Health and Children and her Government partners have presided during an unprecedented boom because it was not improved.

I recently had discussions with Age Action Ireland and a number of elderly people who drew my attention to their concerns about the VHI abandoning community rating. Has the Minister had meetings with VHI officials at which they proposed to abandon this policy? If she has information, perhaps she will brief the Minister of State, Deputy Moloney, who is replying on behalf of the Government. Has the VHI plans to abandon community rating, which is in place to ensure people can afford health insurance? Many people who were granted a medical card gave up their health insurance but they may have to rejoin the VHI in more difficult circumstances. It is imperative that the Minister brings clarity and reassures people about what she knows about this issue.

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