Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Is it? Well it is happening all the time in the hospital in Clonmel and in other hospitals. A patient might then be on a trolley for two or three nights and be charged the price of a bloody top-class hotel room when they do not even have a bed. This practice is widespread - certainly in Tipperary. I would not say that unless it was the case. What is happening is wrong. I heard a solicitor on the radio advising people not to sign the forms. Hospital staff should not ask sick people to sign forms because they might not have 100% of their faculties if they are very ill. This is happening and it is distasteful. The HSE is getting the funds through charging private companies but the patients might never get hospital beds. It is another way of operating in the HSE which is literally robbing the system and that is not good enough.

While I have dealt with many consultants and while I have the highest respect for them, there was a recent exposé involving hospital consultants. I go back to Barry Desmond's time as Minister, which was long ago when I was a young man. He was fighting so that the consultants would be sorted out and could not use public hospital facilities to treat private patients. That was a long time ago. I think Barry Desmond is still alive; I am not sure. I wish him well if he is alive. He fought that battle but he did not win it. The problem was not tackled and it still obtains. A vet or a dentist must set up his or her own laboratory and deal with patients in his or her own way. Why should consultants use public hospital facilities to treat private patients? It should not be happening, full stop. It will go against the consultants but fair play is fine play as far as I am concerned. Are consultants supposed to work 30 hours per week under their contract? I am not sure about the figures. I compliment RTÉ on the exposé to which I refer. What is happening is not acceptable.

The Health Insurance Act 1994 made provision for the establishment of the Health Insurance Authority, HIA, but the body was not brought into existence until 1 February 2001, which was much later. What is wrong with a system like that? Why did it take so long? The 1994 Act was amended by the Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2001 providing for, among other things, an enhanced role for the HIA, with more responsibility than was envisaged under the 1994 Act. I welcomed that. The HIA is funded by a levy imposed on private medical insurers but, like everything else, this was passed on to the punters. Premiums were to be independent of the State. The role of the HIA includes acting as a registrar of medical insurers and undertakings and vetting new market entrants. It is also involved in consumer protection and the provision of information. It also provides advice on matters of medical insurance to the Minister for Health. The HIA receives returns from medical insurers every six months and, on that basis, makes recommendations to the Minister regarding risk equalisation. Since people are asking the Minister questions, can I ask him how often he has met representatives from the HIA? Does he meet them regularly? Is the HIA doing its job? Is it like the rest of the quangos in that it is costing us money but does very little and we get very little value for money out of it?

This country is affected by a plethora of issues. We are all regulated but nobody is doing anything. Most of them are toothless, useless and fruitless. They get paid and get their perks and Mercs but are often very ineffective. This is true not only in health but across the board. I do not understand why insurers cannot see that these increases are creating an even bigger mess. The dropout rate in respect of health insurance is enormous, which is a worry. I meet poor old dears. I met one about two years ago who cancelled her insurance only about a week before she got sick. She had been paying it ever since it existed but just could not afford the increase and dropped out. When she needed it, she did not have it. There are many issues to be dealt with. I moved from VHI to Aviva but found that the goalposts kept changing. Now we find if we go for a procedure, we are covered for very little. We are covered to get in the door. The health insurance industry could be compared to the people on Grafton Street with billboards coaxing customers into their premises. However, once customers go in, some of them are fleeced. I am not saying that about premises on Grafton Street. We need to regulate this because health insurers are getting customers in and are chopping and changing and people do not know the extent of their cover. That is a fact. I do not know whether the Minister is shaking his head in disbelief or asking "What's he talking about?", but it is happening.

See this speech in context