Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

In last weekend's edition of the Sunday Business Post I read an article on some of the Minister's comments last January when he described the increases in insurance premium as an horrendous and appalling attack on ordinary families. The key decisions in the budget from the Department and the Government in the context of redesignating beds and charging the full amount will have a major impact on the cost of insurance for families. The Minister can stand here talking about cost analyses, reassessments and economies of scale but no insurance company can absorb the full cost and they will have to pass it on to the policy holders, ordinary hard-pressed families who are already struggling with the cost of health cover. Almost 60,000 people left in 2011 and the forecast is that another 100,000 could leave in 2012. That will lead to huge pressures for the insurance companies being able to fund procedures and for the public health system, which is already under huge strain and incapable of dealing with the numbers coming through the door as it is. This will have a fundamental impact on people's ability to retain health cover and the ability of the public health system to provide services.

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