Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Most of us wish people did not have to feel there was a need to have health insurance. However, with the queues for treatment in the health system, many believe there is a requirement to have health insurance. I believe in the principle of community rating and that cross-generation solidarity is required in terms of health insurance premiums. Was any calculation made of the fallout from this proposal in terms of the number who were likely to fall back on the public heath system and the pressure this would place on the system, or of the ratio of young people who would withdraw from the system as people reviewed the expenses on which they could cut backs? What analysis, if any, was made of the pressure this would place on the public system while waiting for a more general system to be put in place?

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