Wednesday 6 March 2013
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important motion. It is extraordinary that in two years Fianna Fáil is returning to form. It has abdicated its responsibility and forgotten it was in Government. It never took the Department of Health and Children as it left it to Ms Mary Harney. It did not have the courage to take it.
Let me cast the minds of the Members opposite back to 2008. Some €700 was the price of a premium. Under the Fianna Fáil regime, the costs spiralled. Since 2008, more than 200,000 people have left the health insurance market. It is worth noting that at the peak, 50.9% of the population had health insurance. Unfortunately, this figure has reduced to 45.8%.
Significantly, despite all the pandering and posturing by previous Administrations, we now have a Minister who has set about creating a universal single-tier health service. The best that the Members opposite can say is that this is not happening fast enough. They ask whether there are clear pathways. They should examine the recently published document The Path to Universal Healthcare, on which we should have a debate. For once, we are in circumstances in which we will have people gaining access to medical care not on the basis of what they can pay, who they are or where they come from, but on the basis of their needs and how they can be treated and cared for properly, promptly and decently. The model of health care that the Government and I espouse is based on this philosophy. Anybody who promulgates a different version is talking out of both sides of his mouth.
It is about time that we got real in this country regarding health care. For far too long, we have let the vested interests dominate, take over and dictate what happens. For once, we have a Minister who is prepared to drive reform and implement change. While this may take time and while we may need to go to Legoland and back, I hope that on the way to Legoland we can build the blocks on a sustainable foundation that will not collapse like the Micheál Martin-Mary Harney model that has left us where we are today.
The priority is to examine what the health insurers are doing because they all have a responsibility. Members have focused on the VHI in this debate as it is the dominant market player. It must lead the drive to reduce costs. Our main question, to which Deputy Kelleher referred last night, concerns increasing costs. The Deputy is correct that they are increasing but the current Minister is the one who has said consistently to the insurers that they must keep their costs down.
It is tough for Deputy Dooley being in opposition. When his party was on this side of the House for 14 years, he was like a little mouse. He did not budge or open his mouth.
I ask him not to open it now. If I was him, I would be embarrassed given Fianna Fáil’s record in government. I would not say too much about it. I appreciate his difficulties.
I ask him not to open it now. If I was him, I would be embarrassed given Fianna Fáil’s record in government. I would not say too much about it. I appreciate his difficulties.
Members opposite forget that we must never allow the Irish people to forget that Fianna Fáil led us to where we are today.
There has since been reform of the health system. I pay tribute to those who work in our health system. We have seen better care and more changes. I will give some examples of the changes because I know he wants to hear them.
The Mercy Hospital in Cork now has a new admissions procedure so people can come in for an operation and leave the same day. The South Infirmary Victoria Hospital has reduced the length of stay for knee and hip replacements and now has a pain management unit. This was unheard of previously. Cork University Hospital has a new assessment unit and 85 new beds were opened there and in the Mercy Hospital just this week. Reform in rostering and changes to work practices have allowed for greater numbers to be seen and fewer people on trolleys. These are some of the many positive signs that the Deputies opposite do not want to hear because they just want the bad news. That is fair enough, it is their prerogative, but let us look at what we are doing in the health system, driving reform and putting the patient at the centre of the system.
It is not good enough for the Health Insurance Authority to tell people to shop around. There are more than 200 differently priced plans in the market. Let us make it simpler and more streamlined for those who want to keep their private health insurance. We face many challenges in the health insurance market and consumers are making difficult choices. As prices have increased, many have relinquished their policies, but insurers have an obligation to stop the spiral of price increases and to work with hospitals and others involved to reduce costs because they have a social objective, to make it attractive for people to keep their health insurance.