Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. This legislation comes before the Houses annually.I welcome the fact that we are not to see any increase in stamp duty, at least as it affects customers of health insurance companies. Health insurance has been an absolute blessing for hundreds of thousands of families over many years. By and large, the health insurance industry has served this country well in enabling access to high-quality healthcare for all people and all citizens who are in a position to afford health insurance. We are lucky that health insurance is reasonably affordable in this country, although not totally affordable. Community rating and risk equalisation are cornerstones in achieving equality in the area of health insurance. We in this country can stand over our health insurance system in a way in which those in the United States of America and other countries cannot. We ensure that vulnerable people with long-term illnesses, challenging conditions and lifelong disabilities are not ripped off when they purchase health insurance and have access to the same quality healthcare as everybody else. I welcome this legislation, which is a step in the right direction as it continues this long-held policy that has transcended governments.

With regard to health insurance in general, there is excessive red tape associated with it. There are myriad plans offered through different providers. These need to be streamlined, particularly for the benefit of older people. We have all had older people come to our offices who believed they were covered for certain procedures only to discover they were only partially covered or not covered at all. We need to eliminate small print and confusion with regard to health insurance. As a matter of fact, we need to do this across the spectrum of the insurance industry but we are talking about health insurance this evening.

The one type of insurance whose terms should be crystal clear, straightforward, uncomplicated and easy to understand is health insurance because it can be the difference between life and death. People buy health insurance so that they will have the comfort and the confidence that they will receive the care they require when they need it. That is the cornerstone of health insurance. We have to make that simple for people. We do not need it to be complicated because, when it is complicated, it leads to confusion and uncertainty and creates doubt, disturbance and upset at a critical time, when people are dealing with sickness, recovery and recuperation. Far too often, the red tape associated with health insurance and the confusion created by myriad options and plans leads people into situations in which they are uncomfortable and stressed when they should be recuperating. That is something the Minister of State might bring to the attention of the regulator so that something might, at some stage, be done about it.