Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I also welcome the legislation, which clearly sets out the way forward in dealing with health insurance. It sets out the issue of risk equalisation whereby anyone over 35 coming into the market will face a 2% additional charge for each year after the age of 35. It will give balance in respect of people who pay for it throughout their lives. It will certainly create a much fairer system for those who contribute to it. The risk equalisation credit is based on age, gender and level of cover. My colleague across the floor mentioned the number of people who have left health insurance, and quite a number of people have, but 44% of the population is still covered by private health insurance. It reduced from 50.8% to 44%. It is a case of trying to increase this figure. A group of people do not have health insurance cover or medical card cover, and we must try to do everything possible to encourage them to take out health insurance.

Under current policies young adults face a loading, or sudden increase, of up to 100% once they reach 21 years of age, and what the Minister will introduce in the Bill is welcome as it will help them to keep their health insurance policies after they reach this age.

Young people drift away from coverage because they feel they do not need health insurance as they are fine and healthy. However, I came across a number of people recently who regret very much not having continued with their health insurance cover. They are now trying to obtain cover again but are finding that their health problems will not be covered by their new policies, although they are renewing. I made the point to them that while the health insurance will not cover the cost of health care immediately in respect of the medical problems they have, it will cover the cost of any other medical problems that might arise.

Someone texted me this morning asking why we need health insurance cover or private health insurance. A problem we do not understand and which is not really known to the public concerns the contribution the private health sector is making to the provision of health care. I have worked out that over 2 million outpatient appointments are covered by the private sector. If this coverage were suddenly to end in the morning, the public sector would not be able to accommodate it. Many people do not realise the extent of the work done by those in the private sector.

We need to raise the issue that the cost of health care rose by approximately 12.6% between 2008 and 2012. The Minister raised it. I hope the trend is levelling off. We must ensure there is no added expense for people who are providing health care. The main area where there is an added cost is in the area of insurance claims concerning personal injuries and medical negligence. The number of such claims seems to be greater than in the United States. I refer to both compensation and the cost of the claims. The cost is considerable and we need to work on trying to reduce it. If we are trying to bring down the cost of private health insurance, we must also ensure the costs incurred in providing private medical care do not increase. Litigation over personal injuries and medical negligence is the one area of litigation that we have not changed. We have changed the regime in respect of car accidents and industrial accidents. We should work on this, particularly given that the premium paid by a consultant providing health care in the private sector has increased to over €100,000 per annum. Many consultants are now paying that kind of money for professional indemnity insurance. The Medical Protection Society, which is providing cover, is a non-profit organisation and must collect enough premiums to meet the number of claims. We need to start examining this. If we do not do so, charges to patients will increase. The medical personnel must take in enough money to meet the additional costs.

I, too, welcome this legislation, which is well thought out. It sets out clearly the way forward in providing a level playing field for everyone who wants to get private health cover. The incentive for young people is extremely important. In particular, we should encourage people at a very young age to ensure they obtain private health insurance and continue to pay the premiums. I welcome this Bill and hope it will be implemented in the not-too-distant future. The risk equalisation measure is to come into place on 1 May.

I look forward to seeing in it full operation and hope there will be fairness for everyone involved in this area.