Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 15:

In page 21, to delete lines 18 to 39, and in page 22, to delete lines 1 to 25.

This is the section dealing with relief for insurance against the expense of illness. As the Minister of State may remember, on Second Stage I strongly opposed this provision for a reduction in the relief available to those with medical insurance premiums above €1,000 for adults and €500 for children. Deputy Peter Mathews also made a passionate speech attacking this measure as an increase in income tax which would effectively reduce the incomes of families. Many Members, and anyone with medical insurance, felt the reference to gold-plated premiums was an insulting and irritating comment by the Minister for Finance. The cut applies to some 90% of health insurance policies. There is a double whammy of stamp duty increases provided under the Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill. The measure aims to raise €94 million in 2014, or €127 million in a full year. It has been noted that changes to relief for medical insurance and to the DIRT rate in 2014 will generate the same amount of revenue as the bank and pension levies combined. I listened to the discussion on Committee Stage and it is welcome that section 8 has been amended in respect of students under 23 years of age with adult health insurance premiums. It was particularly unfair that children over 18 years of age, who are treated by health insurers as adults, were not recognised as such in the Finance (No. 2) Bill. There is also an amendment on dental expenses which is relevant under section 470 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997.

With the sustained increase in the cost of health insurance premiums, I disagree with the imposition of this cap. I have always basically been a National Health Service man and in my former party for a decade or more we had very deep and profound discussions, as the Acting Chairman may have had with his former colleagues, about what we should do with the Irish health system. I always took the view that we should emulate the British system, with service free at the point of use and the State essentially organising the profession and system in an efficient and coherent manner. It may be seen by some that this is part of the road we must travel on the way to a health system that has the entire population insured.

We all have had personal or family experience of the way people have had to downgrade health insurance plans because it has been impossible, with ever increasing premiums, to maintain the plan that people want. There was a 12 month extension from the European Commission with regard to the State insurer, VHI, and authorisation from the Central Bank on the capital shortfall of €220 million. VHI and other insurers are under pressure so price increases from the likes of Aviva and others will be in the order of 5% and over. This will also result in defections that Deputies rightly predicted on Second Stage would come from the imposition of this section.

This relates to fundamentally unfair treatment of private health insurance policies in this Bill and it is contrary to the Government's stated aim in the programme for Government of moving to some kind of egalitarian and universal model of health care. The way in which the Government has done this is reprehensible and will have a very severe negative impact on many families in 2014. This morning I heard reports of a speech at the weekend - unfortunately I was not present to hear it - when the Tánaiste spoke about the bills that are coming in on top of families and making life so hard, leaving people on edge. Many of these extra bills and cutbacks are a product of the Government; these include the full-year property tax and the 50% increase in Dublin city waste management charges. There has been a plethora of utility bill increases and this will be a double whammy on the health insurance side. It is something the Minister of State should reconsider.

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