Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 106: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if her plans to move 1,000 private beds out of the public system will have the effect of increasing private health insurance premiums; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41422/06]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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In July 2005, I announced an initiative designed to provide up to 1,000 additional beds for public patients. This will be achieved through the development of private hospitals on the sites of public hospitals, transferring private activity to those hospitals and freeing up beds currently reserved for private patients.

As the charges levied on private health insurers for treating private patients in public hospitals are subsidised, the transfer of 1,000 beds will impact on private health insurance costs as private hospitals will have to charge the full economic rate, including the need for a return on their capital investment. However, it is, in any case, Government policy that this subsidy be removed from public hospital beds.