Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I cannot understand how this resolution has come before the House tonight. We have been waiting a long time for a White Paper on universal health insurance. There was a commitment from the Minister in the context of making sure families would not be under undue pressure yet, time and again, we see a relentless rise in health insurance premia for ordinary families.

The Minister, Deputy Noonan, is a very clever man. His language today spoke of "gold-plated" policies. As the Ministers present well know, there is nothing gold-plated about a family which makes extreme sacrifices to fund itself in the context of paying its health premium, thereby lightening the burden on the State with regard to the provision of health care. We are being asked tonight to ensure that families who make huge sacrifices are recognised.

We have tabled motions on this in the House time and again.

The Health Insurance Authority has highlighted the fact that families are under huge pressure, which has also been said in this House repeatedly. We have consistently advocated that something must be done to alleviate the burden on families who are finding it very difficult to maintain their private health insurance. They are doing that so they will not have to ask the State to cover the cost of their health treatments. This is an assault, in principle, on people who are doing their best to lighten the load of the State in the provision of health care. In one fell swoop, the Government is saying in this measure that it will penalise people further for trying to ensure that they and their children have health insurance.

Then there is the grand plan of universal health insurance, which is to force everybody who can afford it to take out health insurance. The State will pick up the tab for those who cannot afford it. In this respect, it is an affront to suggest that somehow people who have health insurance are all gold-plated. The vast majority of people who have private health insurance are ordinary hard-working families who make sacrifices each day. When it comes to paying their health insurance premia, they make decisions as to whether they will fill the tank with oil, buy clothes for their children or pay their premia. That is the position of families at present. The Minister lumbering a cost of up to €250 on top of the cost of premia through the changes in this proposal will mean that families will simply not be able to retain their health insurance with the spiralling cost of the premia.

There is a Government proposal for universal health insurance in the programme for Government and we are awaiting the White Paper. At the same time, the Minister, Deputy James Reilly, is saying on a continual basis that the spiralling costs of health insurance are the fault of the health insurers and the consultants. Yet, the Government will, in one fell swoop, add €200 to €300 to the costs of families which it says have gold-plated health insurance. Why would the Government consider gold-plated the people who must take out health insurance because they have complications other than those which are covered by normal, traditional health insurance? Ophthalmology, orthopaedics and other areas must now be covered because they are no longer in the standard packages being offered by health insurance companies.

This proposal obviously came from somebody who knows nothing about health insurance, the pressures families are under and the fact that health insurance is a spiralling cost beyond the average family. Week in, week out I submit parliamentary questions asking when the White Paper will be published and when this great proposal from the Government will be produced. In the meantime, this budget is pillaging families who are struggling daily to make their premium payments. Previously, families used to pay their health insurance on an annual basis, but now most people pay it by monthly direct debit. If one looks behind that, one will find that those direct debits are being returned on a continual basis as well, because that is where families are. Now, the Government is asking us to support a proposal that will put huge pressure on them.

This is ill conceived. I have no difficulty with removing the relief from gold plated health insurance, but that type of insurance will fly one to Dubai, New York, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre or some other fine institute. The ordinary family is now being attacked as well. This proposal is ill conceived and I ask the Minister to revisit it. Whoever thought of it has no understanding of the pressure families are under or, as importantly, of the proposal the Government is sponsoring with regard to universal health insurance.

Whatever else happens, this issue should be revisited. Massive savings for the State have been factored in but it is short-sighted, will put families under huge pressure and will burden the State further, even though it is already under huge stress trying to provide public health facilities. I ask the Minister to reconsider this very quickly. We will vehemently oppose it. We have been consistent on this issue, and the parties in Government held that position as well. When they were in the Opposition they consistently pointed out that any increase in health insurance was transferring a burden from private health insurers to the public purse. That is exactly what this proposal will do due to the fact that families will not be able to sustain private health insurance.

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