Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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1531. To ask the Minister for Health if she is aware that numerous people have had their health insurance claims rejected in relation to Lyme disease; if she will instruct her Department to investigate the matter and ensure those suffering from Lyme disease receive the treatment they need; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10885/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I am responsible for the legal framework governing the health insurance market in Ireland. This is a voluntary market that operates under key principles, including minimum benefit, which is provided for under legislation. It requires insurers to provide a minimum level of cover to every insured person, regardless of what insurance policy has been purchased. Beyond this, I cannot direct any insurer to provide cover for any particular procedure or service, or direct how that cover is to be provided, including cover for treatment abroad. Private health insurance providers act as commercial entities in a competitive private health insurance market and I do not have a role in the commercial decisions that they make.

Lyme disease is a tick-borne infection that is known to be endemic in certain locations. While a relatively brief course of antibiotics is sufficient to treat most cases, more complicated ones require referral to infectious diseases clinics.

Ireland’s National Clinical Programme in Infectious Diseases has expanded the number of consultants managing conditions like Lyme disease. Patients with post-Lyme syndrome can be referred by their GP to a public hospital infectious disease clinic in Ireland. Diagnosis and treatment in clinics operating in the public hospital system is in line with national and international best practice guidelines, as outlined in Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines that have been endorsed by the Infectious Diseases Society of Ireland.

Many hospital laboratories have the capacity to do Lyme serology (ELISA) locally and where not, referral of samples to the National Virus Reference Laboratory (NVRL) occurs. Confirmatory testing (western blot - an analytical technique in molecular biology and immunogenetics to detect specific proteins in a sample of tissue) is referred to the UK Lyme Reference Service.