Union fears over universal health insurance plan

Trade union Impact has warned government plans to introduce universal health insurance could become an expensive failure.

The union’s national secretary, Louise O’Donnell, said the Dutch model had resulted in a three-tier system where almost half a million people were uninsured or defaulting on insurance payments.

She said the system had increased bureaucracy and more than half of Dutch hospitals that relied on funding from universal health insurance faced bankruptcy last year. Others had closed.