Warning on VHI reform proposal

PATIENTS will become regularly embroiled in disputes between hospital consultants and the VHI if the main recommendation of a Government-commissioned report is implemented, the health insurer has warned.

The VHI claims medical staff will lose the ability to determine treatment for patients if proposals for reform of the VHI are adopted.

The company — which controversially announced increases of up to 45% in its policies — has challenged the report’s main finding, which proposes that the VHI adopts a US-style system of healthcare whereby it, rather than medical staff, will determine what level of care and treatment would be received by patients.