Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this. I thank the Minister of State for coming to Kerry recently to open an excellent new mental health facility in Deer Park Lodge in Killarney. I wish the management, staff and patients well in what the Minister of State said is an excellent modern facility fit for purpose for many decades into the future where people can live in the dignity they richly deserve. I thank him for coming to open that facility. He was very welcome.

The cost of health insurance is a major bill in the lives of individuals, elderly and families who are struggling but they pay it diligently to do their duty of taking care of their own health needs. However, as has been highlighted here there is a complete anomaly in how the HSE structures its charges. First, we have the issue of people, as soon as they get a bed in a hospital, being asked to sign up to the fair deal. Second, they are asked about their private health insurance. If they say they have that, it is just like adding on more noughts and instead of €100, the bill could be €1,000. It just does not make sense.

Somebody in the HSE has to tackle this. The pricing structure and what is charged for private versus public has to be looked at. I do not want to say anything that is wrong and I seek your direction in this regard, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. The changes made in the costs border on being criminal. How can the same bed be as little as €75 and then all of a sudden be as high as €800? Surely there is something seriously wrong with that. If someone buys an item in a shop and it is priced at €4.99, it cannot change to €499 for someone else. That cannot happen. These people are purchasing their health care. They are purchasing the right to stay in a bed or have a room in a hospital. If the charge is €75, how can it change just because it is on the insurance and one of the health insurance companies is footing the bill? What is happening is outrageous.

I have raised this through parliamentary questions over the years. I have highlighted it here in the Dáil previously. I am not pointing my finger at the Minister of State or at any one in particular. However, the HSE should be made answer as to who decides the price structure can change so much just because it is covered by private health insurance. If the private health insurance providers are to be charged an enormous amount of money, they have to shove it on at the other end to their customers.

These are the people we are here to stand up for, to talk for and to highlight their concerns. We have young struggling families who are trying to pay their mortgages, to pay for child care and pay for their health care. They are worried about their health care. If a child falls and breaks an arm or has a sporting injury, they want that child to be on their health cover. They are paying through the nose for it and they are paying more than they should be paying simply because of the enormous costs being put on at the other side.

I would like this to be examined with a view to bringing normality to the charging structures in our hospitals.

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