Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will follow Senator Crown's comments, although not on the same issue. I know of a case where a specific procedure can only be done in a hospital and GPs are not allowed do it. This is specifically when people have very high iron levels in blood and blood must be taken once every three months. My understanding is that insurance companies would pay out approximately €300 every time somebody would go to hospital for this procedure but the same cover is not given when a GP is prepared to do the procedure for €100. An advantage of using a GP is that people can access somebody at a local level rather than clogging hospital services.

In Cork, we proposed that the National University of Ireland, Cork, would do some research on this issue with the Health Service Executive, HSE, and GPs. The total cost was €25,000 but the HSE will not come on board. I know it is a slightly different issue from that raised by Senator Crown but the amendment highlights what happens with insurance companies when they give cover but only if certain procedures are followed. In many cases, there is a far higher cost, so the issue should be examined.