Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have one question on this amendment. The Minister is aware that as maternity services currently apply, a woman has the option of booking into the private or the public clinic at the outset for her first appointment and based on this, she then presents for delivery and goes into a private or a public bed, as the case may be. It is not possible for a woman to go into the public clinic, go through the public process and go to the hospital under the public system and be in a private bed. The Minister should correct me if I am mistaken but on foot of this legislation - I am unsure how this waiver will work and how it will be presented, which also will have implications for the implementation of this legislation - one could quite easily see a situation in which a woman with private health insurance could attend a public clinic as a public patient and yet be charged under her private health insurance for a bed, even though she has no access to a private hospital bed. I ask the Minister to elaborate on this point.

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