Call for new health insurance system

A NEW social health insurance scheme to fund an equitable health service has been called for by the Adelaide Hospital Society.

A report published by the society says a comprehensive health system providing equal access to all would cost an additional €2.1 billion a year to run.

Investment in capital and training of up to €6.4 billion would be required between now and 2020 to provide sufficient facilities and staff, the report states.

It maintains the system should be financed by a new social health insurance fund to which the State would pay the premium on behalf of lower income groups. The report says a carefully designed comprehensive social health insurance system would provide free primary care consultations and prescriptions at the point of need for all citizens. It would also allow for timely access to hospital consultants and the upgrading of access to healthcare services.

Director of the Adelaide Hospital Society Dr Fergus O'Ferrall said the report showed a comprehensive social health insurance system was practical, feasible and affordable.

The report says a version of social health insurance that involves upgrading the access to healthcare services for the worse-off segments of the population to that of the best-off would increase the total health expenditure as a proportion of GDP from 7.5 per cent to 8.9 per cent at 2006 prices. "This represents an increase of about €2.1 billion in running costs but such a proportion of GDP is low for a comprehensive social health insurance system.

"This Rolls Royce option would include guaranteed and timely access to hospital consultants, free primary healthcare consultations, free primary healthcare prescriptions and some limited support for long-term care," it states.

It says the provision of full medical cards for all children under 19 would cost an additional €160 million or an increase of just over 2 per cent in real terms on current healthcare funding. It says full medical cards for all the population would cost an additional €217 million. The report adds that irrespective of whether a social health insurance funding model was introduced, there were capacity constraints in the system that would have to be met in the period up to 2020.

"Ireland has relatively few primary care providers in comparison to other European Union countries at 52 GPs per 100,000 population. France has 164, Austria 144 and Germany 102 per 100,000.

" Ireland has a very low number of acute beds per head of the population at 2.9 per 1000. The EU average is 4 per 1000," it says.