Leo Varadkar compares universal health insurance to Irish Water scandal
The health minister made the claim as he again denied the Coalition had performed a U-turn on its central health policy, but was unable to give any specific year as to when a new version will be introduced.
He also appeared to criticise his predecessor Dr James Reilly by alleging there had been an “obsession” with one form of UHI. Mr Varadkar insisted the Coalition remained committed to introducing the policy at some unspecified stage in the future.
However, he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland: “People were struggling to pay water charges, I doubt we could have imposed massive premiums on families without effectively opening another public spat over the increased costs imposed on people for services.”
The health minister said “a lot has changed” since the plan was first announced in the 2011 programme for government including a deep recession which, in fact, had began three years earlier.
As a result, he indicated that what was initially outlined could not be reasonably achieved because of the likely impact on families.
Asked if his commented had suggested Government had scrapped UHI, Dr Varadkar said “not entirely”, as the Coalition remained committed to the vision of the policy, but was unable to give a specific year for when UHI would be introduced in the future because of “variables”.
He said such issues included the continued rolling out of free GP care, an issue which was likely to face union roadblocks for a number of years; long-standing hospital capacity problems; the need for up to 1,000 more GPs with Dr Varadkar suggesting 100 new doctors could be found a year; and a fresh drive for consultant appointments.
“I can give you a year, but there are so many variables,” he said, before responding when asked for the year: “No, it’s dependent on all those variables.”
Dr Varadkar said if UHI was introduced “tomorrow”, it would be “just putting everybody on waiting list, maybe a shorter waiting list but a waiting list nonetheless, and that’s not very appealing”.
In what was viewed as a thinly veiled criticism of his cabinet colleague Dr Reilly, who championed the version of UHI which is now embroiled in ignominy, he added: “The flaw in this debate over the past few years is there has been an obsession with the funding model and not the vision.”
On Wednesday, cabinet confirmed the UHI plan outlined in its programme for government will not happen for cost reasons, but claimed it was not a U-turn as an alternative version would still be implemented if the Coalition reaches a third term.
UHI involves replacing the two-tier public-private health service with a system where everyone is covered by State-backed private health insurance — putting every patient on an equal footing.
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