Report a road map for health funding - Harney

MINISTER FOR Health Mary Harney described the report of the expert group on financing the health sector as an “invaluable road map” for the future funding of the health service.

Ms Harney said she would like to begin implementing the recommendations of the report as quickly as possible, and would bring them to Government for a decision in the autumn, “hopefully in September”.

The Minister said she favoured the “tiered” approach to primary care cards recommended by the report.

“I don’t think somebody like me should have healthcare for free when that denies somebody else getting State benefits that they should be entitled to.”

Ms Harney said she would like to see a new contract for GPs, as the report recommended. “I would hope that we can get into that space soon.”

Asked if she fully endorsed all of the recommendations, Ms Harney said: “I’m open-minded about all of them, yes.”

A recommendation to replace tax reliefs on medical expenses and private insurance with more targeted subsidies was not supported by the Department of Finance. Ms Harney said it was not unusual for the department to “put a marker down”.

“It’s not a matter for me to decide what the taxation regime should be. That is a matter for Government led by the Minister for Finance.”

Prof Frances Ruane, director of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and chairwoman of the expert group, said the introduction of four types of primary care cards would result in a fair system.

“The graduated card would basically mean that somebody like me who’s got a high income would effectively get a card which means that I co-pay 80 per cent of my primary care costs, whereas somebody who currently has a very low income, is maybe unemployed, is as at present with the State paying 100 per cent.”

Fine Gael’s health spokesman Dr James Reilly said the report exposed the “perverse incentives that exist in our health system which deprive patients of access on the basis of need and end up costing the taxpayer more in the long run”.

Labour’s spokeswoman on health Jan O’Sullivan welcomed the report, but accused Ms Harney of “putting a misleading spin on its findings in regard to universal health insurance”.

Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin claimed the report was “paving the way for further privatisation of the health system”.

Dr Ronan Boland, chairman of the GP committee of the Irish Medical Organisation, said he believed most GPs would broadly welcome the proposal to subsidise the cost of primary care for all.