John Gilroy (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. It is great to see her.

This is a technical Bill to extend for another year the regime that has been in place for the past three years. Health insurance is based on four principles: community rating; open enrolment; lifetime cover; and minimum benefit. The aim is to ensure private health insurance costs no more than it should for those who need it most. This is only proper. The Bill arises from legal confusion surrounding the mechanism by which risk equalisation was delivered. It is helpful and welcome that the Commission, in 2009, recognised the scheme as a public service. An extension period of four years was approved.

It is very important to bear in mind the social democratic nature of the scheme. While the four principles I outlined are unquestionably ideological in nature and the ideology is clearly social democratic in nature, Senator Barrett's views are not quite as neutral as he presents them to be. His views are tinted somewhat by neoliberalism, which posits the market as taking care of health care. I would like to debate this further with the Senator, not today but in the context of a general debate on health policy. Perhaps this would make for some interesting exchanges.

It is unfortunate that Senator MacSharry cannot stay with us. When it became apparent in 2009 that there was something wrong with the scheme, I wondered why the then Government did not place it on a permanent footing. It is strange that it did not even begin preparatory work in this regard to leave us with some foundation such that we would not have to start at the beginning again. The previous Government has left us with many things with which we are not happy.

The current Government is determined to proceed as outlined. Senator MacSharry is mixing up our proposal on universal health care a little with the Dutch model. The model proposed by the Government takes some elements from that but it is different. Our model will form an important element of our policy.We must bring in this legislation and ensure the continuity of the principles I have outlined. It is very important that we support the Bill.

I have some comments on the points made by Senator MacSharry. His colleague and spokesperson on health in the other House made some comments on the radio this morning suggesting his view is that private beds in public hospitals should be subsidised by the taxpayer. I am not sure if that is Fianna Fáil policy or just early-morning ramblings by the Deputy in question. The views expressed were very much contrary to those expressed generallyin Ireland about fairness and equity in the health system.

The Minister, at the meeting this morning of the Joint Committee on Health and Children, commented on media reports, seemingly propagated by the Opposition, that private health care costs will increase by approximately 50% due to changes made in the recent budget. The Minister sees no reason at all for increases of this nature to be necessary. He pointed to some cost-saving measures within the industry that would be greatly ameliorative.

Let me outline a case recently brought to my attention by a woman whose son went to the Mater private hospital for a procedure that required two overnight stays. He entered the hospital on Tuesday, had the procedure on Wednesday, stayed over on Wednesday night and was discharged on Thursday. The VHI charged a bill of €16,000 for the two nights, and that was just for the accommodation. Clearly, huge savings can be made in this regard. These savings could offset most of the costs anticipated on foot of recent changes.

I have a lot more to say but want to wait until Committee Stage to do so.