Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. At the outset, I echo what Senator Buttimer said. I thank the Minister of State for her ongoing engagement and support in this House at all times, be it for Commencement matters or legislation. She is always willing and ready to come to the House and meaningfully engage with Members. That is acknowledged and appreciated across the House. I wish her well at the weekend's deliberations and all that goes with that.

To get back to business, we are dealing with the Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2022. The Minister of State set out the rationale and I understand that. It is an annual event that happens every year. Indeed, the Minister of State might have done it last year as well. What I really wish to say is that we need greater scrutiny and clarity in terms of the options for private healthcare. It is one of a facet of choices people have in healthcare. The Minister of State spelled that out too. It is an option. People are entitled to take out private healthcare and they pay for it. It is an expensive care package, really. That is the reality of it. Most of us will have had private health insurance for many years and never made a claim, but we never quite know when we will have to make a claim. There is a comfort in that as well. It is costly, however. The big issue in terms of consumer protection is that there are so many differences and different packages and policies. I would like to have a debate another day on how we can be clearer about what people are getting for their money and what it says on the tin. I know myself it is always difficult to ascertain. There are always variations and changes within one's own policy, be it Vhi Healthcare or whatever. I ask the Minister of State to take that away with her.

I will deal with two or three points from the Minister of State's presentation to us today. She referred to a surplus of €55 million or 7% of the fund. She went on to say: "This surplus has built up because of lower claims due to lower levels of hospitalisations as a result of Covid-19." We know that. In some cases, some of us would have received money back from Vhi Healthcare and private health insurers last year and the year before unexpectedly. One could call it a refund or bonus or whatever but we got cheques back, which are always nice to get. We need to see all around the policy of that, however. It is clearly a Government decision to ring-fence this money. The Minister of State set that out and I have no difficulty with it. I would like if we could have a bit more background paper on that from the Department at some stage in terms of the policy and the surplus. We know it is €55 million. That is a considerable amount of money. There are various choices around that. I do not expect the Minister of State to go through them today but it would be helpful if we could have a briefing note on the policy, governance and decision-making around how she apportions that percentage of funding. She went on to say that "the programme for Government commits to retaining access to private healthcare ... " I would agree with that too.

Senator Buttimer touched on Sláintecare and universal healthcare. That begs the question about universal healthcare, which is something we have been promised for many years but do not seem to be making real progress on. It was very much on the platform of the manifestos two or three elections ago. It continues to raise its head and we do not seem to be any nearer to it. I know we have had different setbacks. I welcome anything that sees further progress of Sláintecare. While we are not really dealing with Sláintecare, I will take the opportunity to say there is progress. It is slow and it could be faster but I recognise there are many constraints. It is something on which we need to continue to focus. I think the Minister of State very much for her presentation today.