Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to introduce this short and relatively straightforward Bill. When we talk of health insurance, we think of the VHI and BUPA. The VHI has been in business for about 40 years. At this time we should remember the late Mr. Tom O'Higgins who was instrumental in introducing the VHI which has certainly been very successful. In some countries there are many more private health schemes. In Australia I believe there are up to 20. I am glad we have good insurance schemes because in the United States there is a two tier system under which people close to death who arrive at a hospital are asked if they would like to pay by cash or credit card.

Here we have an aspirational equality of care. There is equal access to public health services which, unfortunately, does not and will not happen. While we have a value for money audit, we are throwing money at the problem. There is accountability and value for money as well as economies of scale. As the Minister knows, this is becoming a major issue with expensive technology.