Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Instead, during the first two years in government, we have seen more 1,000 people leaving private health insurance every day and coming back into the public system. Instead of those who need insurance getting public insurance and the services that would go with it, the opposite has been the case. We have seen a real lack of leadership to bring our health services around and changing their operation. Unfortunately, the Minister underwent a change of personality after the election. When he was on the Opposition side of the House, he would solve it all but now he is in government, he is creating more problems than he can solve.

We saw that with his ministerial team. Instead of going from strength to strength and getting a handle on what was happening, we have seen one Minister of State leave the team to be replaced by Deputy White. I wish Deputy White well in his role and I accept that the challenge of health service reform is very difficult and will take some time. Unfortunately, from what we have seen up to now, there is little cause for confidence that the Government will reach that target.

Since 2008, the number of people with health insurance has fallen from a record of just under 2.3 million to just under 2.1 million at the end of 2012. The worrying thing about these figures is the imbalance in who has left the health insurance market. If we look at the breakdown of age, we can see the problem. The over 80s category has gone from just over 36,000 in 2008 to 44,000. Likewise, the 70 to 79 age bracket has risen from 94,500 in 2008 to 110,000 in 2012. Similarly, in the 50 to 59 category, there has been a rise from 266,000 to 271,000. Once we look at the categories under the 50 age bracket, however, we see where the pain lies and where the imbalance is becoming pronounced in the health insurance system. In the 40 to 49 age bracket, numbers have fallen from 320,000 to 312,000, while for those in their 30s, the numbers have fallen from 367,000 to 339,000. The 18 to 29 bracket has seen numbers fall from 334,000 to 267,000 and further drop of 20,000 in the numbers who are 17 or under.

The problem here is that this places more pressure on the health insurers. Those who are continuing with their health insurance are older and perhaps more insulated from the recession, debt and family pressure compared with those under 50, and are therefore more able to sustain their health cover. It is also that category who will make greater use of health insurance products and have a more immediate need to keep it up. Those with families and who are younger might make less use of health insurance and have more demands on their weekly income, forcing them to drop out. As a result, the health insurers find it becoming more and more expensive to provide health cover because those who have kept their policies are using them. That is doubtless a factor in the increases in fees that we have seen.

This is something the Minister said he would tackle, saying he would bring a halt to increases in private insurance costs, but that has not been the case. At the start of the year, VHI announced further increases for 15 for their corporate plans and has now announced it will increase premiums on 50 plans by 4% to 8.5% on 1 March. The latest 6% increase means the costs of some the State's largest health insurer's policies, typically held by older people, have risen by almost 70% in little more than two years, a massive increase by any standards. The figures I outlined earlier show that older people have kept their health insurance up despite the 70% increase.

The VHI announcement is the fifth increase in just over two years. Last November it increased its prices by 3%, with similar trends across the other health care insurers, with Laya, Aviva and GloHealth also significantly increasing premiums in recent times. This means the cost of health insurance has doubled in four years at a time when health inflation has been low and there has been deflation in the general economy.

The latest evidence of the Government's failure to get a handle on the issue has been the breaking of the commitment to protect the 330,000 health insurance customers with lower levels of cover from another increase in the Government's health insurance levy in March.

These new problems arise from the Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2012 and mean that everyone will pay the same additional levy regardless of what type of private health insurance policy they hold. During the debate on the Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill last year the Minister for Health made a clear promise that there would be a two-tier levy system for those with advanced and non-advanced cover so that those with more basic cover would not end up subsidising the holders of more advanced policies. It was expected that those on basic packages would face a €5 increase while those on advanced policies would face a €65 hike. However, following on from the recent review of all policies by the Health Insurance Authority based on the wording of the Minister's legislation, Laya found that none of the plans on the market conform with the Minister's definition of non-advanced. As a result, all policies are now categorised as advanced, meaning the same higher rate of levy will be applicable to all, making a mockery of the Minister's pledge here in advance of bringing in the legislation with regard to its impact.

The motion in the name of Deputy Kelleher, put forward on behalf of our party, asks that the Minister address the health levy, in particular, its impact on children. Parents, who have the additional cost of putting a student through college and raising a family, are finding it most difficult. If the Minister could address the levy cost on children, it would at least bring some relief to them.

Overall, we must see some meat on the bones of what the Minister is proposing in terms of universal health insurance. What has been delivered so far, two fifths of the way into the Government's term, has been the opposite - fewer people with health insurance rather than everyone with health insurance. That is a real failure and an indictment of the Government. I hope to see some sense of confidence that the Minister and the Government know where they are going on this and some sense as well that there will be real change and real movement on this. This will be a long-term project but it can only be a project if it gets moving and if we progress it. We have not seen that.

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