Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

People are spending €2 billion on private health insurance. Would it not be far better if that money went into the public health system? It would go a hell of a long way towards sorting out the problems in that system. That is in addition to the €2.5 billion to €3 billion, or 18%, they fork out on out-of-pocket charges, such as accident and emergency charges, overnight stay charges, general practitioner charges and so forth.

I recall what the Government said when it tried to defend the savage cuts it imposed on the public health system during the austerity period. It boasted that we spend one of the highest proportions of GDP on health, forgetting that a huge proportion of this does not go to the public health system. Only 69% of the spend goes into the public budget when one strips out the out-of-pocket charges ordinary people must pay and the €2 billion spent on private health insurance. That money and a system of progressive taxation could be used to fund a state-of-the-art national health system so that when people need health care, they need not worry. The last thing people need to worry about when they need health care is whether they can afford health insurance premiums or, if they do not have insurance, the out-of-pocket charges they might have to pay.

The other issue with this Bill is that the industry report prepared for the Government has not been not published. Is it available to the public? Can we see it?

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