Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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945. To ask the Minister for Health if he will address a matter raised in correspondence (details supplied) regarding letters being received by persons who attended private hospitals between 30 March and 30 June 2020 and who paid private health insurance excesses and have since received invoices from the private hospitals for the HSE statutory charge of €80; the normal procedure for members of the public to undertake in such instances; if members of the public who have private health insurance are expected to pay both an excess and a HSE statutory charge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1158/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Under the arrangement between private hospitals and the HSE that ran from April to June of 2020, all patients in the private hospitals were treated as public patients for the duration of the agreement and their treatment was prioritised based on clinical need. Patients in receipt of non-Covid-19 related care were, subject to exemptions (e.g. a medical card holder), liable for the €80 statutory public in-patient charge while patients in receipt of Covid-19 related care were exempt from charges. Provision was made under the agreement to allow for continuity of care for patients who were in a private hospital or attending for treatment at the time the Heads of Terms of Agreement were agreed, on the grounds that these patients would be treated as public patients.

Private patients who received non-covid-19 related care in public hospitals for the duration of the Framework Agreement continued to be subject to the private in-patient charges provided for in Section 55 of the Health Act 1970 (as amended) in addition to any professional fees for consultant services which are the subject of negotiation between health insurers and consultants.

Patients who were admitted to private hospitals prior to the commencement of the Framework Agreement and were receiving care in private hospitals during this time should only have been doing so to continue a course of treatment that had commenced before the start of the agreement between the private hospitals and the HSE, as per the terms of the agreement. They should therefore have been treated on a public basis, and not privately. The statutory daily public in-patient charge of €80 therefore should, subject to exemptions, apply, and the patient should not be liable for private professional or hospital fees, or the excesses that they pay as part of their health insurance contract on those fees.

The Deputy may wish to provide further information regarding the specific details of this case, to facilitate further clarification with the HSE.