Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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GMS contractors receive a range of capitation rates, fee per service payments and practice supports. Extending GP care without charges to all citizens who do not currently hold a medical card or GP visit card would encompass a further 2.9 million people approximately. It is not possible to definitively calculate the cost of universal GP care without charges given the wide range of payments and variables that have to be accounted for.

Such a calculation would require a complex and detailed modelling exercise to account for a range of demographic changes, future projections of service demands and variation in the number of GPs and the allowances that could be paid.

Additionally, the fees payable to GPs could only be determined following agreement with the IMO on the scope and content of the general practitioner service to be provided, as well as on the future of the various other supports provided to general practice.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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General Practitioners are self-employed private practitioners, most of whom have contracts with the HSE to provide services under various public health schemes.

Under the General Medical Services (GMS) contract, GPs are reimbursed for a range of services they provide to medical card and GP visit card holders. GPs are remunerated for these services primarily on a capitation basis, with a range of additional support payments and fees for specific items of service.

As there is currently no approved salary scale in the public service for a GP post, it is not possible to quantify the financial implications for the HSE of additional GPs being hired to provide services to the public health system under the GMS and other schemes.