‘No plans for mandatory private health insurance’

The Department of Health has denied claims that the Government is planning to force patients to purchase private health insurance for GP services.

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has based its claim on a consultation process overseen by the department which invited submissions on how the scope of private health insurance could be extended to cover additional primary care services.

The doctors’ union has interpreted this move as evidence that the Government is “preparing a mandate that will require patients to have health insurance to access certain procedures and services through their GPs”.

It said it would have “serious reservations about relying on PHI [private health insurance] to fund such an integral part of our healthcare services”.

In its submission to the consultative process, the IMO argues that any move that requires patients to purchase private health insurance for GP services runs counter to Government policy of extending free GP services to under-sixes and over-70s.

IMO GP Committee chair Ray Walley said: “If the Government has its way, it looks like free GP services will only be free for those who pay for their insurance.”

Dr Walley said the IMO was concerned that extending the scope of private health insurance in primary care “would see GPs being forced to treat patients differently depending on whether they had insurance or not, that the profitability of insurance companies would force behaviour and business changes on GP practices, that same-day appointments would become a thing-of-the-past and that independent GPs would be replaced by corporate GP practices with reduced availability of GPs in rural Ireland”.

However, Health Minister Leo Varadkar said there were “no plans to require anyone to have insurance”.

Mr Varadkar said the initiative “relates to people who do not have medical cards and now have to pay their GP the full cost of visits and procedures out of pocket”.

He said the Government was “looking for ways in which more people can get better value from health insurance if they chose to have it”.

This would involve more people being re-imbursed for GP visits and procedures by their insurers, he said.

“Insurers should cover more procedures being done in primary rather than that in hospitals which is much more expensive,” Mr Varadkar said.