Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

Does the Minister agree that a difficulty arises in the meantime in that the private health insurance system is in crisis? Many families are opting out of private health cover altogether. We now have a situation where people are downgrading the insurance package they normally take out. There is increasing evidence that health insurance providers do not provide adequate cover in the sense that they are changing the terms and conditions of policyholders, in particular of older people. Does the Minister agree that VHI has failed to cover the Mahon private hospital in Cork and that it remains closed? In the context of having competition within the health insurance industry there must also be competition among health service providers and that is an indication that the Minister's policies, even at an early stage, are being undermined by VHI because it is not covering a hospital that could provide adequate care for its policyholders.

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