THE MINISTER for Health is to call in the board of the State-owned health insurer VHI to discuss its controversial warning that Government reforms to public hospital charges could lead to a 50 per cent rise in premiums.
James Reilly also signalled his strong unhappiness with the VHI over removing cover for specific procedures from plans popular with people aged over 50. Such segmenting in the health insurance market should not happen and was not acceptable, he added.
Dr Reilly said the increase in the cost of private beds in public hospitals which the Government planned to introduce would be “less than 4 per cent”. This is expected to generate about €18 million in additional private income for public hospitals.
He added that the Government planned to remove the 20 per cent cap on the number of beds designated for private patients in public hospitals and to allow public hospitals to charge for all private patients treated would affect premium costs. However he said that this could be offset by cost-containment measures.
Dr Reilly said many procedures attracted a payment rate that was not appropriate to the time and skill involved. Some were being carried out in hospitals which could be performed in GPs’ surgeries or by consultants in new primary care centres. There was a huge amount of savings that could be made, he added, and the department had appointed consultancy firm Milliman to look at the issue.
There was “no excuse” for talk of VHI subscribers facing a 50 per cent price increase. As the sole shareholder in the VHI, he would be calling in the board of the company to discuss the issue.