We need healthcare with compassion

On Feb February 2, the VHI announced price hikes ranging from 6% to 12%. Last November, they added on a 2% increase.

In February 2011, they put up their prices by 15% for 60% of their subscribers. There was an 8% rise in February 2010. A year previously, they had raised their premium prices by an average of 23%. Overall, those increases equal a compound increase of 70% in three years. Nobody has cried “Stop!”

Compare those rising price with the falling numbers of VHI subscribers in recent times. For nearly 50 years, from 1958, their numbers of customers grew by over 30,000 per year to exceed 1½ million in 2007. In the three years from 2007 to 2010, that number fell by an average of over 85,000 per year. If that trend continues, the VHI customer base will run dry in 15 years’ time. Roughly speaking, they could lose 100,000 customers with every 10% increase in their prices.

The geese that once laid the golden eggs are becoming extinct. More and more people are seriously considering canceling their health coverage. We will all end up equally poor. Ireland will then have only a one-tier health system. It can’t manage as it is. How can it hope to cope then? Endlessly increasing the prices adds fuel to the fire of inflation. We need accountancy with accountability. We need healthcare with compassion. We badly need a prices regulator.

Michael Mernagh

Carrigaline

Co Cork