James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

We would like to see it ring-fenced for health services.

The Minister is propping up the VHI's dominant market share. Her actions are anti-competitive and anti-consumer and reflect an ideology which was not associated with her in the past.

It is feared that the levy will make private health insurance unaffordable and will result in a contraction of the market by at least 10%, or 200,000 people. In a contracting economy with rapidly increasing unemployment, it stands to reason that the contraction may be even larger as people prioritise what is most important to them. Family premia are due to rise by an average of 20% on typical plans, which will result in a relative increase of more than 32% on cheaper family plans. Families on the cheapest plans tend to be the most price sensitive in the market, in particular under current economic pressures. It is projected that in excess of 200,000 persons in this lower end of the market will exit the market and be left with no option but to revert to the public health system, which is creaking under the strain of poor management with 500 beds removed from the system last year, 600 beds to be removed this year and not a sign of a single one of the 1,000 co-located hospital beds. This week a HSE report highlights a 49% increase in delayed discharges between 2007 and 2009 from 514 a week to 757 a week so far this year. The net effect is similar to taking St. James's Hospital out of the system for a year and this is why, particularly in the Dublin area, many people lie on trolleys for 24, 48 and 72 hours at a time and longer.

The Minister is shaking her head and she can dispute the INO's figures while I can dispute her figures from the HSE. However, the INO's figures are comparable week on week and a few weeks ago the number lying on trolleys hit 398. A sick lady was referred from my surgery to a Dublin hospital at 9.30 a.m. last Tuesday. She was left sitting on a chair between then and 4 p.m. on Wednesday at which point she was transferred to a trolley, on which she lay for another 24 hours. This is no way to run a health service following ten years of a boom. The Minister can spin all she wants and use all the figures she likes. She can allude to the NTPF, which states 2.6 months is the average wait for a patient from the time the fund takes on the patient, which totally ignores the minimum three months patients must wait before they are taken on in the first place. Many patients must wait six months and, therefore, they must wait up to nine months or longer. In addition, patients must wait for up to two years for a colonoscopy in Tallaght hospital.

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