John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on the motion ably proposed last night by Deputy Kelleher. Not alone did he propose the motion, but he also proposed a number of solutions to the problem which should be taken on board on the far side of the House. As this is my first opportunity to do so, I wish the Minister of State, Deputy White, every success in his position. As Deputy Kelleher has said, I am sure he will stand up to the Minister, Deputy Reilly, and plough his own furrow in the Department.

We have a serious problem with the health insurance industry where the ever-increasing cost means 200 people every day are giving up on their health insurance. The programme for Government committed to acting speedily to reduce costs in the delivery of public and private health care, but obviously that has not happened. The Government is now beginning its third year in office and nothing substantial has happened in this area. On Monday the Oireachtas Members from Wexford were briefed by senior representatives of the HSE south. One of the points made to us was that the number of people giving up private health insurance was having a serious effect on people attending hospitals in the south east, resulting in a large increases in the operations and people attending such hospitals. They made the point that we will have ever-increasing problems in dealing with the numbers of people leaving the VHI and the other private health insurers.

There is an ongoing and persistent increase in the cost of private health insurance with a crisis developing in affordability for individuals and families. The increase in private health insurance premiums is significantly higher than not only inflation generally but even health-sector inflation. An average of 6,000 consumers leave the private health insurance market every month. Obviously that is a major problem in the public health area. What plans do the VHI and other private health insurers have to deal with this? Obviously a company in the commercial sector losing that number of customers would be trying to deal with it effectively. Clearly the VHI's running costs are far too high. Even though it has lost a significant number of members, it still has the same number of staff. Surely this is not acceptable. The company should take a serious look at how it is operating and the high costs of its operations, and make changes.

As other Deputies have said when the Minister, Deputy Reilly, was on this side of the House he had all the solutions to the problems of the private health sector. He castigated the then Minister for Health and Children, Ms Harney, and the then Government for not dealing with the issue. However, now he just shrugs his shoulders, saying this is the way it is and this is the way it will continue. However, it cannot just continue because if huge numbers continue to leave the private health sector we will have serious problems in the public sector. This is an issue in which the Minister of State should involve himself directly because obviously the Minister, Deputy Reilly, has no interest in dealing with it.

I thank Deputy Kelleher for tabling the motion. He has outlined some of the solutions that can be implemented to bring about a reduction in costs and allow people to remain in the sector. We cannot afford for them to be leaving it thereby putting pressure on other areas of the health services.

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