Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy John Moloney, and thank him for his presentation. While Senator Liam Twomey was speaking I recalled the time we spent on the health committee four years ago. The Senator was then a Member of the Lower House. We debated this issue ad nauseam. There were brilliant debates involving Mr. Vincent Sheridan, the chief executive officer of the VHI, and Mr. Martin O'Rourke, managing director of BUPA Ireland, the health insurer that would be most affected by the levy required at the time for risk equalisation and community rating.

Until four years ago I did not know what risk equalisation or community rating were. I knew what the VHI was; we were roughly about the same age. I grew up with the VHI. It was founded in the same year I was born, 1957. It was a household name and everybody had ownership of it, whether that was through affection or hearing one's parents say: "God, this is an awful bill we have to pay". There were hard times when I was a child but one's parents still had to pay their subscription. There was a huge amount of loyalty to the VHI.

I recall listening with interest at the committee. I felt almost like a lawyer because when I heard one side of the argument from the VHI, I was very much on its side and thought risk equalisation and community rating were necessary. I recall Mr. Sheridan saying one day that it was not fair because the VHI had all the old nuns and old priests and it could not afford to maintain its level of support for them. My attitude would have been, too bad - the VHI got them when they were young priests, brothers and nuns and they paid their premium like everybody else. Then I heard the other side of the argument from Mr. O'Rourke from BUPA. Was it fair to penalise BUPA to the tune of millions of euro just because it was a newcomer to the market? Naturally, as a newcomer, it was attracting people who were coming into the market for the first time. The people who were more settled and who had grown up with the VHI, like me, were afraid of change and did not wish to change their insurer for fear anything would go wrong.

I have come full circle on this issue. I am delighted that the Minister of State has risen to higher ranks but four years ago he was the chairman of the health committee so he knows a good deal about this matter. In the early days I would not have been on VHI's side but now I am. I have firmly come round to the view that risk equalisation and community rating are what we need to go forward and to encourage competition in this market. Before BUPA entered the market there was no competition. It was a little like the Aer Lingus and Ryanair situation. Now the market has opened up and more procedures, ranging from laser treatment to maternity services, are covered by private health insurance.

Unlike Senator Liam Twomey, I believe this legislation is necessary. I do not claim everything in the legislation is perfect but it is necessary. We could not leave the situation as it was, after the Supreme Court had found against BUPA, without enacting legislation. I appreciate the Minister outlining the different provisions in the Bill but I have some concerns about the levy. It seems severe that every insured adult must pay that levy of €160. We all come at this from our own point of view, judging how it will affect our pocket. I have five persons on my VHI policy, myself and my four children. Unfortunately, while they are all adults, they do not earn adequate funds to pay for their own schemes and, for peace of mind, it is easier for me to keep them on my policy. I certainly notice increases when they occur but I go without other items to keep private health insurance.

Senator Twomey will leave the Chamber today asking what Senator Feeney had for her breakfast because, while normally we never agree on anything, today I agree wholeheartedly with what he said.