David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 3, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following:

“Report on profits, rising costs, and potential impact of removal of private practice from public hospitals

3. The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 33: “Report on profits, rising costs, and potential impact of removal of private care from public hospitals

33A. (1) The Authority shall, before and by 31 July 2026, prepare and submit a report to the Minister for Health having—

(a) undertaken a review of—

(i) the current rates of profit health insurance providers,

(ii) the trend of profits of providers since 2019 to date, and

(iii) the rate of health inflation from 2019 to 2025 and the corresponding changes in the costs of health insurance, and

(b) conducted an analysis of the potential impact of the removal of private practice from public hospitals on the cost of health insurance.

(2) The Minister shall, as soon as may be after the receipt by them of a report under subsection (1), cause copies to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

(3) The Minister shall, on foot of this report, bring forward proposals for off-setting inasmuch as possible the rising costs for consumers against profits on the basis of the analysis conducted by the Authority.”.”.

We have tabled an amendment to require the Health Insurance Authority to prepare a report on raising insurance costs, industry profits and the potential impact of the removal of private healthcare from public hospitals on insurance premiums.

The HIA publishes an annual report and various other reports and is constantly monitoring the industry and the market. The removal of private practice from public hospitals is, from my perspective, a positive move, and we discussed that at length yesterday on Second Stage, but it may have consequences for premiums. The purpose of the amendment, however, is to ensure the Oireachtas is prepared for any potential consequences for consumers and ready to legislate to offset this against industry profits insofar as possible and if necessary.

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