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

The Labour Party may have been proposing a universal health insurance model but it was on a funding system of social insurance as opposed to private insurance companies funding the health model. There is quite a large difference between the two.

At the outset, the Tánaiste said the Government wants to introduce a policy that would give access to people based on their medical need as opposed to their ability to pay. In the last couple of months, it has decided to announce free GP care for those aged under six but, at the same time, it is funding that particular initiative by taking medical cards off the sickest in our society. The idea that the Tánaiste would come into the House and say the Government wants to ensure people will access treatment based on their need simply is not credible when one looks at what the Government has done in regard to discretionary medical cards, week in, week out, withdrawing them from the sickest and most vulnerable in society.

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