Letters to the Editor: Sláintecare embeds inequitable access to hospital care

'Our political system and its Sláintecare plan will ensure that this wealthy country will have embedded in its system in 2025, and for the foreseeable future, inequitable access to hospital care funded by private health insurance'

'Research has shown that Ireland has one of the most inequitable hospital care systems in the OECD, and voluntary private health insurance was found to be the largest contributor to that inequity.'

Government formation is in process, and all parties are signed up to the implementation of the Sláintecare plan of 2017. One of its key principles is equitable access to healthcare. 

Research has shown that Ireland has one of the most inequitable hospital care systems in the OECD, and voluntary private health insurance was found to be the largest contributor to that inequity — a fact not referred to in Sláintecare.