James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The bottom line is that it is the insurer, not the Department, that negotiates with private hospitals and consultants. Only insurers can address these ever-rising costs. They have to examine why they pay the level of costs they pay. I acknowledge the argument made by the Deputy. I am happy to engage, through my Department, with the insurers to talk about paying per procedure instead of paying per day in the public hospitals. I want both private and public hospitals to be efficient. I do not want people to be treated as inpatients when they could be treated as outpatients; nor do I want people being admitted to hospital the night before a procedure when they could be admitted on the day of the procedure. I am quite happy to discuss all these matters, through my Department, with the insurers. However, I remind the House that the health insurers are the only ones who can act on costs in the private hospital sector, and these costs are increasing all the time. In the past, the insurers have just passed on price increases to the consumer. Not enough has been done.

As Deputy Kelleher is aware, the Health (Amendment) Bill is before the Seanad this evening. I have to make a choice between being here to reply to his Topical Issue matter and being in the Seanad to deal with that Bill. The bottom line is that provisions to deal with the amounts to be charged for procedures will be introduced on Committee Stage. The insurance forum and the insurers now have an opportunity to propose some real and meaningful changes with regard to their costs and how they plan to address them. This will very much influence what figures will be included in the Bill on Committee Stage.

See this speech in context