Results 18,701-18,720 of 24,339 for speaker:Jerry Buttimer
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: I thank all four insurers for their presentations and for the varying degrees of challenge and sobriety therein.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: I thank Mr. Dowdall. I welcome Mr. Sean Egan, chief executive officer, and his colleagues, Ms Alison Burns and Mr. John Armstong, of Aviva Health Insurance. I invite Mr. Egan to make an opening statement.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: Thank you, Mr. Egan. I welcome Mr. Dónal Clancy, managing director of Laya Healthcare, and Mr. David Muiry, head of global health at the Swiss Re Group. I thank them for their attendance and invite Mr. Clancy to make his presentation.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: We will resume. I apologise to witnesses who have been waiting and to staff and members for the delay, due to a vote. I now call on Mr. Jim Dowdall, CEO of GloHealth, and welcome him and Ms Teresa Kelly Oroz to the meeting.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: I apologise, I should have congratulated Mr. O'Dwyer on his appointment.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: I again thank Mr. O'Dwyer on his appointment and I wish him well in his term. I apologise to the remaining witnesses that a vote has been called in the Dáil - we are a parliamentary democracy - and we will need to suspend until after the vote has concluded.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: I thank Mr. Joyce and Mr. Sloyan for attending this meeting and interacting honestly and openly with the committee. We have had a good exchange of views. I remind Deputy Naughten, who was critical of the Health Insurance Authority website, that it has been nominated for an award. It is a very user-friendly website.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: If we are to have a balanced debate, we should recognise that the website is informative.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: We will suspend the meeting while we wait for the health insurers to come in.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: I welcome the witnesses from Aviva, VHI, GloHealth and Laya Healthcare to the second part of today's meeting. I will not go through the names of all those in attendance. I hope members have received the comprehensive presentations that the health insurers furnished to the joint committee. They have been circulated. I ask the various groups to confine their presentations to five or six...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: Mr. Joyce spoke about driving increases and so on. I refer to people at home and people like Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, who raised her issue. Have we any good news for the consumer because all the consumer has seen is a spike in premiums? New technologies and facilities in and the modernisation of hospitals were mentioned. The costs are going up. Senator Coghlan was worried about his son....
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: To be fair, the authority does so but Senator Coghlan, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor or the person at home should not have to seek that information. It should not be a treasure hunt. The insurance companies should make the information readily available, and we will ask them about that later. I also appreciate the volume of people in contact with the authority. To be fair to health insurers,...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: The website has been nominated for a European award.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: I accept that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: That is for a different committee.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: That is not right.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: Mr. Sloyan spoke about the market distortion in regard to the VHI health care not being regulated by the Central Bank. What is the impact, or knock-on effect, of that?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: The health insurers will appear later and Senator Crown can ask that question at that point.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: Will Mr. Joyce address the questions posed by Senators Colm Burke, Eamonn Coghlan and Crown?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children: Health Insurance Sector: Discussion (25 Oct 2012)
Jerry Buttimer: Can that be said with certainty?