Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senators for their contributions and welcome their broad support for the Bill. To pick up on some of the points mentioned, currently there are approximately 400 different plans available. There is no doubt it causes confusion for people and the matter is being examined at present. However, we have to take competition law into account. Competition law and principles allow people to have different types of products and we have to bear that in mind. When I have met insurers about it, they argue they use all these different plans to encourage new people to take up health insurance and say that if we were to reduce the number of plans significantly, while it might reduce confusion, it may increase premiums and that would be counter-productive. Just because they say it does not mean it is so, but it is one of the things they say and it needs to be considered.

The minimum benefits to be provided in every policy is provided for in legislation. They could be changed in the future, potentially, and could be amended to include more benefits but that is not in the pipeline at the moment.

The young adult discount does seem to be working. The number of people who drop health insurance when they move, if one likes, from their parents' account to their own account seems to be lower. Some argue we should increase the age limit to 30 years of age. Currently it applies to those under 26 years of age. That could be done but we decided against it last year. It is a matter for future review and a review is provided for in the legislation.

In respect of Senator Barrett's comments, I do not think it is a myth that insurers would like to avoid older customers if they could. I see the way health insurance is marketed and we see the advertisements on television. They are very much about young people, young families and people getting sports injuries. I have yet to see a television advertisement from any insurer about an older person who had a fall. They are all about someone who plays hockey and gets a sports injury or a young mother with her young family. I do not think that is a coincidence.If I see advertisements over the winter from insurers about old people who have had a fall on snow or ice, I might change my mind but I do not expect to see that.

As for where matters stand, it is correct that the number of people with insurance fell but it now is up to a rate of approximately 45% or 46%. However, the number of people with medical cards has risen dramatically. That is a perhaps unnoticed development in recent years, largely because incomes have fallen so much and because so many people lost their jobs. However, the Government found more resources to increase the number of people with medical cards, which at one point was down to approximately 28% of the population but now is quite close to 40% which is often forgotten. While those numbers are falling again on foot of the recovering economy, that point is forgotten. If one adds together those two things, approximately 85% of the population has either health insurance or a medical card but of course it is not as simple as that because there are people who have both a medical card and health insurance and then many who have neither. However, that is the current position and again, I thank Senators for their support in the easy passage of this Bill.