John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to contribute to the debate on this Private Members' motion. I acknowledge it is an issue for the public and I thank Deputy Kelleher of Fianna Fáil for raising the matter. It is also important to point out this has not just become an issue in the past two years. The price of an average private health insurance policy increased by 11% in 2009. We are aware of the declining trend in membership from a peak of 2.3 million to 2.1 million people and 67,000 people gave up their policies last year. This problem is exacerbated by the fact it is younger people who cannot afford it because they have so many other issues such as unemployment or mortgages. Once they opt out it puts pressure on the health service and this increases membership prices because under the schemes we have and the method used, there is less money to subsidise older people, 12% more of whom have taken out health insurance.

The need for community rating and the concept of risk equalisation is accepted by and large. This would mean everybody would be charged the same premium for a particular health insurance plan irrespective of age, gender and current and future likely risks to health. This can lead to anomalies. A male constituent of mine recently asked me why he must pay for maternity cover when he does not expect to get pregnant any time soon.

Why can private health insurance not provide a range or menu of packages from which people can pick what they want? It would be a bit like car insurance, which can be third party, fire and theft or comprehensive. We need to look at health insurance in new ways.

There are benefits to be had from shopping around, but until recently members of the public did not take advantage of the competition between various companies. There is a tendency, especially with the older generation to stay where they always have been. Nonetheless there are large savings to be made by shopping around and comparing the various health premiums.

It is important to review the level of cover and ensure that needs are being met without being over-insured. In the past, some people have spent money on being over-insured. The message should go out that people have a legal right to switch between or within insurers to get better value and thus reduce costs.

I would like to comment finally on the pace at which private health insurance companies pay hospitals for procedures. I was astounded at the end of last year to find that €47 million was owed to hospitals in the HSE west region. Some €4,208,000 was owed in the case of Mayo General Hospital. That is a huge figure which is simply not acceptable. I commend the Minister for the efforts he made to reduce that. Galway University Hospital and Merlin Park Hospital were owed over €10 million. At a time when hospitals are trying to meet budgets they need to get the money they are due.

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