Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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Question 33: To ask the Minister for Health if he will consider introducing legislation making all private medical care and medical insurance illegal for public representatives; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19680/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The UHI system in the Programme for Government envisages a set of competing for-profit health insurers, with VHI continuing in public ownership as an integral part of this system. This will entail, among many other developments, a substantial restructuring of the Private Health Insurance (PHI) market. It is my view that the current structure of the PHI market, in which VHI has a substantial market share and a highly disproportionate share of poor risks, is not conducive to the introduction of UHI in the longer term. I am currently considering the steps required to address this imbalance and to restructure the market in advance of the introduction of UHI.

A number of important initiatives will play a critical role in improving our health service in advance of the introduction of UHI, including:-

· the need to strengthen primary care services to deliver universal primary care with the removal of cost as a barrier to access for patients.

· reform within the hospital sector, including the work of the Special Delivery Unit to deal with waiting times and waiting lists, the introduction of a purchaser-provider split and the implementation of a prospective "Money Follows the Patient" funding system.

Once these initiatives been put in place, the health sector will be ready for UHI.

The Government has given approval for an Implementation Group on Universal Health Insurance. I am currently finalising details of the Implementation Group and I will announce these in due course.