Results 4,381-4,400 of 11,979 for speaker:Billy Kelleher

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I welcome Mr. Fitzgerald and Ms O'Brien. When the Minister attended the committee, he made a commitment that tobacco control would be a central plank of the Presidency, particularly the draft directive. Mr. Fitzgerald outlined that there was a very strong tobacco control ethos in Ireland and that legislation here is very advanced. The difficulty we have is that 29% of the population...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I apologise but had to go to the Dáil for a few moments. I will not detain the witnesses. We must be very clear on the issue. If we suspended the meeting and headed to Moore Street or O'Connell Street, I could openly buy a pack of illegal cigarettes. We are trying to discourage people from smoking by increasing the price of tobacco and making it less attractive. That is a public...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I am talking about the State's apparatus in fighting tobacco usage. One organisation cannot have a policy of increasing taxes and making a product more expensive while it can be argued that there is a flood of illegal cigarettes in the country funding criminality and everything else. There is a similar context in the broader European debate. Some countries in the EU have very cheap legal...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: This must be the first time the Chairman has been pleased there are only four insurers in the marketplace, as it would be difficult to direct our questions if there were more delegates present.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I welcome all the delegates. The issue before us has been discussed for some time at this committee, in the Dáil and general public discourse. There is no point in pretending the health insurance industry is not in crisis. Families are being put to the pin of their collar as they try to retain private health insurance. I have opposed, sometimes as a lonely voice, certain Government...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: Effectively, if this policy is pursued as is, people who are on the bottom rung of the ladder in terms of their ability to pay and sustain private health insurance will be subsidising people who have the gold-plated, Rolls-Royce hotel-type plan. Is that a fact?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: Okay. I have a few more questions. May I go ahead?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: In its discussions with the Department, the health insurers said there was engagement. A White Paper on universal health insurance is coming down the tracks. In terms of broader discussion on the sustainability of the health insurance market per se, how much open discussion takes place with the health insurers on trying to bring about a platform for a sustainable health insurance model...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I ask for more clarification on some issues, to which Senator Burke referred. The per diem charge in public hospitals is a major concern. In my view the grouping of hospitals would provide an incentive to ensure that the per diem charge remains forevermore. We should be under no illusions; it is a money-generating measure. The policy decision is not based on anything more than its being a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: This is the result of legislative changes. We were led to believe during the Second Stage debate that the high levy rate would not be applied but it is clear that this has not happened. It will have a significant impact on people who cannot afford health insurance and it will have a positive impact on very affluent people who can afford the best insurance policy. The situation is wrong. ...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I welcome the witnesses. Dr. Lynch, in his opening remarks, said: The Government's priority is to ensure a sustainable market for private health insurance, in which those who wish to purchase cover can buy it at an affordable price. In addition to meeting the needs of today, the private health insurance market is also seen as a key building block on which to move to universal health...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I had indicated as well. We need clarity on this before we go away.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: I am willing to sacrifice my vote in the Dáil for this one.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: The difficulty we have is that no advanced plan is now available. Even if health insurers do not submit new plans before 31 March 2013, there will be no non-advanced plans. What will have to happen is a stripping of benefits from plans that are already in place. Correct me if I am wrong. That can only mean that people who can barely afford health insurance will have to pay themselves for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: Does Mr. Sloyan not mean reduce them?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: That means, in effect, that one will have to pay for some benefits oneself.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: That is if plans are stripped of benefits the HIA had identified as non-advanced. Now, there are no non-advanced contracts.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Levy: Discussion (21 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: The reality is that the only way those plans can become non-advanced is by stripping benefits. If one strips benefits, the person who wants to retain the same level of cover will have to pay personally out of his or her pocket to do so.

Leaders' Questions (26 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: The Taoiseach sat at the Cabinet table with him.

Leaders' Questions (26 Feb 2013)

Billy Kelleher: The Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, was on the high stool.