A chara, – Minister for Health Mary Harney (Opinion, April 28th) is correct in saying that there are no simple solutions to healthcare funding, and that any plans for universal care must be carefully costed. She fails to acknowledge the elephant in the room: Ireland has one of the most inequitable health systems in the OECD, as detailed in its 2009 report.
The Minister’s embrace of private healthcare has done much to exacerbate this. Again she is right that money cannot follow the patient unfettered. Any social health insurance model needs careful regulation – and when this is done costs are controlled.
We spend substantially more than the UK on healthcare and roughly the same as the Netherlands – yet they consistently perform better on quality and equity indicators. The reality is there will always be rationing – they simply ration according to medical need, rather than by ability to pay, and get more bang for their buck. – Is mise,