Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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359. To ask the Minister for Health the position regarding the ESRI study which he has commissioned into the costs of universal health insurance; if he has asked the institute to examine options for a health insurance model that is not based on competing health insurers as envisaged in the White Paper published in April 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38031/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I have established a three-year Research Programme in Healthcare Reform with the ESRI. The research programme uses economic analysis to explore issues in relation to health services and health spending as well as population health. The analysis is informed by the international literature and Irish evidence and has the potential to:

- assess the economic implications of policy choices in the design of the Government’s programme of healthcare reform;

- assist in the design of services to meet the challenges posed by changing health behaviours;

- improve the cost effectiveness of health spending; and,

- provide advice in a timely manner to inform policy development and discussion.

The immediate priority of the ESRI research programme is to examine the cost implications of a change to a multi-payer, universal health insurance model, as proposed in the White Paper on Universal Health Insurance. This analysis will include: analysis of total healthcare spending in Ireland and of recent trends in that spending; examination of the potential effects of changes to the systems of eligibility and financing on the composition of healthcare spending; a review of evidence from the literature on the effects on healthcare spending of alternative systems of financing and of changes in financing methods and entitlements; and an examination of potential effects on Irish healthcare spending and demand of the introduction of alternative financing methods, with a particular focus on the proposals in the White Paper.

I have asked the ESRI to provide initial costings by the end of first quarter 2015. However, this work will continue beyond that date to further develop a model which is capable of providing a dynamic analysis of the effects of changing the system of financing the healthcare system. The ESRI is working closely with my Department, the Health Insurance Authority and the HSE on this costing exercise.