Results 14,941-14,960 of 21,128 for speaker:James Reilly

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: No. That has nothing to do with this Bill.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: This is to do with the hospital bed utilisation charge. I will explain what it is about.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: In fairness, I had to have it explained to me too. The hospital bed utilisation charge, which was €75 but has now been reduced to €60, will be paid back by the risk equalisation fund to the insurers for patients who are in a bed. This is about helping us know the health status of insured people. In other words, the insurers know who has been in hospital and in a hospital bed,...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: Yes.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: In response to Deputy Naughten we already pay risk equalisation credits based on age, gender and the level of cover. The hospital bed utilisation charge is an additional credit in respect of health status. In 2014 we will work to expand the measurement of health status. The Deputy stated I will say this is a small amount of money by comparison to the true cost and of course I will because...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: Yes. It does not apply to day cases.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: I am quite happy what we are doing gives us some measure of health status. I am not happy it gives us the full measure but it gives us some measure. We have discussed this issue with the insurers and we continue to examine further measures we can agree between us. I wish to share some good news with the committee. As all private patients will pay for their services from 1 January, it has...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: -----and that is what I intend to do.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: Not in the immediate short term but the Deputy is quite correct. In the longer term this is what will pertain. Insurers and the health care commissioning agency will negotiate with providers to get the best deal they can. There are reports of certain hospitals which have additional capacity that could be used. We must be careful how it is used because we have had incidents in the past...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: As I stated, it will begin on 1 January.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: It is being done through existing legislation, the Health (Amendment) Act 2013.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: I move amendment No. 2: In page 4, between lines 7 and 8, to insert the following:"(a) in subsection (1)(a), (b) and (c), by substituting "1 May" for "1 April”,".My priority is the implementation of a robust risk equalisation scheme while minimising the impact on the ability of insurers to carry out their business. Under section 7F(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1994, registered...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: The Health Insurance Act 2012 provides the legal framework for the risk equalisation scheme 2013. It has European Union approval. In this decision, the European Commission has concluded that the risk equalisation scheme satisfies the conditions laid down in the 2012 EU framework for state aid in the form of public service compensation. It is, therefore, a scheme which is compatible with...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: There is no rationale for this. Is it feasible that medical inflation is running at 9% when the rest of the country was in deflation and only in recent times has returned to very low single-digit inflation? There is no logical explanation. As a doctor working in the system, I see no logical explanation for it. What we have seen is a drop in the number of people insured and at the same...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: I accept that totally, but I have to point out that the HIA has an excellent website. I accept totally that older people do not avail of it.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: I accept that.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: The HIA also has a telephone number and is happy to engage with people over the telephone. Older people much prefer to engage over the telephone. If the committee is suggesting officials from the HIA should go and sit down to talk to people, the cost of doing so would be utterly prohibitive. It is not a runner; it really is not going to happen. The HIA has a telephone number and its staff...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: I have to reject the Deputy’s statement that this is a damning indictment of the HIA. The spread is not better because the market is segmented. The HIA would have to be given much stronger powers if it were to be in a position to prevent this. That matter is under consideration. The HIA’s role in the health insurance market has changed considerably in recent years. Its...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: They do not insist on anything other than it does not go above 12%.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health: Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2013)

James Reilly: I reject the Deputy’s amendment. I am not prepared to accept it. I do not accept the claim that the HIA is not doing the job it is empowered to do, or that certain figures represent a "damning indictment" of it. Deputies raised the issue of community lifetime rating which I am examining actively because I agree with the principle that somebody who has been insured for all of his or...