The cost of providing free GP access to the entire population for a year would be similar to the cost of the Government buying back the West-Link Toll Bridge, new research suggests.
A report on social insurance options for Ireland estimates that it would cost just under €700 million at 2004 prices to provide free access to GPs for all. The cost of buying the toll bridge, meanwhile, is expected to cost in the region of €600 million.
The costings are contained in a research document by a team of health experts led by Prof Charles Normand of Trinity College Dublin and commissioned by the Adelaide Hospital Society.
It provides estimated costings for four different social insurance models ranging from the "Mini model" - lowering GP fees and improving access to hospitals for the uninsured - to the "Rolls-Royce" model - free medical cards and health insurance benefits for all.
The projected costs range from €380 million for the Mini scheme to €2.1 billion for the Rolls-Royce option.
The costs estimated in the report, however, appear to clash with recent estimates provided by the Department of Health. It has estimated that, in today's prices, the cost of extending medical card coverage to the entire population would be in the region of €3 billion.
Dr Fergus O'Ferrall, director of the Adelaide Hospital Society, said the main message from the results was that achieving equity in the health service for the population was feasible and achievable.
"If you look at the cost of the metro and other transport projects, it is not a huge step forward in terms of expenditure. It is entirely possible for us. Other European countries do it.
"Health spending is growing by around €1 billion a year as it is. In the context of an overall Government budget of around €55 billion, it wouldn't be a remarkable feat to achieve something like universal health insurance cover," Dr O'Ferrall said.
Latest estimates show that Ireland still lags well behind most of our EU neighbours in terms of the proportion of money spent on healthcare.
While we spend about 7.3 per cent of our gross national product on health, this compares to 10.9 per cent in Germany and 9.8 per cent in France. The average for the 25 EU member states is 8.7 per cent.
The Adelaide Hospital Society said the results of the report should provide the basis for a public debate on using a social health insurance model as a way of achieving equity and efficiency in the health system.
