MARIE O’HALLORAN and MICHAEL O’REGAN

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has described as "exaggerated" claims that health insurance premiums would rise by 15 per cent when insurance providers are charged the full cost of using public hospital beds.

He told Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin that charging for public beds would yield €60 million on a total payout by the insurance industry of €2.2 billion. He said “€60 million does not amount to a 15 per cent increase in premiums even if it were passed on” and there were “exaggerated statements being made about that”.

The Tánaiste said “private health insurers charge for everything - the consultant, the anaesthetist and, if it is a private bed, the bed - but at present the hospital cannot charge for the use of the public bed, and that is what is being proposed”.

He insisted that “no matter how you do the sums” it “does not amount to a 15 per cent rise in premiums” even if the full amount were passed on to subscribers. “Those who suggest that are exaggerating the impact.”

Mr Martin had referred to media reports that the Government’s proposal to charge insurers the full cost of the use of public beds would result in a 15 per cent premium rise, to be introduced from July 1st. He said this meant the average annual payment for a family of four would have doubled in the past three years to €2,500.

The Cork South-Central TD said repeated insurance hikes were putting an unsustainable burden on families. And he warned the increases were “fundamentally threatening the sustainability of the health insurance market”.

He added that the Health Insurance Authority had put out warnings to that effect. “Something must happen in terms of the overall plan to intervene to stop what is, in essence, a debt spiral in the health insurance market.”

Maintenance charges for private patients in public hospitals varied between €586 and €1,046 a day, a separate charge from the fee for the private consultant, Mr Gilmore said. About 20 per cent of public hospital beds were for private patients.

If a private patient used a public bed, “the maintenance charge is not levied. As a result of this practice, hospital maintenance charges are not payable by private inpatients.”

Legislation will be introduced to “provide for the charging of the public beds”. He said “if the hospital can charge for the private bed, it ought to be able to charge for the public bed rather than having the entire cost of that fall on the taxpayer”.