Madam, - So, health insurance risk equalisation is no longer legal. The Supreme Court says so, and the learned judges who unanimously agreed this decision, are all, as Mark Antony said, honourable men (and women) and are above criticism.
Can we, however, criticise the learned judge who reached an opposite decision in the High Court, or the European judges who concurred, and so grossly misled those of the older generation who thought they could rely on not being charged more for their healthcare insurance than the healthy young bucks and babes of the playing fields and disco floors? But wait, all is not lost, it would appear the community risk equalisation of individual health plans is still valid, it is the overall concept of community risk equalisation that was unacceptable. Obviously, this a case of the whole not being the sum of the parts.
Apparently the phrase "community risk equalisation" did not mean what the Minister and Government thought they wanted it to mean, or what the High Court judge or the European judges thought it did mean or indeed what the people of the country were led to believe it to mean. Perhaps it was the spacing of the words, the slant of the letters, or the punctuation or the boldness of a full stop or semi-colon that illuminated the true meaning of the phrase, and released us all from draconian misinterpretation of the flawed Bill.
But fear not! ye of the older generation; all, yes all, must be charged the same rates for the same plans. So when some budding executive devises a new health plan covering acne and pimples, hamstring and disco sprain, body piercing and tattoo alteration at say €1,000, it will have to be made available to the 25-year-old and the 65-year-old on an equal basis; similarly when a plan covering coronary care and stroke, rheumatism and arthritis, bronchitis and bunions at say €4,500 is devised, it will have to be made available to the 25-year-old and the 65-year-old on the same basis.
And when some of the older generation decide they cannot afford the particular health insurance plan that might suit their particular requirement, and throw themselves on the mercy of the public health service, extending the queues into the car parks and approach roads, perhaps the old order will be restored and many will once more begin to die in their sixties or seventies, reducing the demand on nursing homes and pensions and carers and such like, so saving vast amounts to the treasury and helping rebuild the country, and all who are young and healthy, will live happily ever after.
A small price to pay for the absolute, undisputable, definitive interpretation of the complex legalistic phrase, "community risk equalisation".
Thank heaven for such learned and honourable men (and women), who as we all know and acknowledge, are above criticism. - Yours, etc,
PÁDRAIC NEARY,
Tubbercurry,
Co Sligo.