A VHI plan to subsidise the cost of members visiting their family doctor is likely to be rejected by the Irish Medical Organisation. Under the plan, VHI members would pay £6 a visit for up to five visits to the GP every year.
The scheme would not be covered by the VHI's existing hospital plans. Instead, members would buy into the scheme separately. The cost has not yet been revealed but, unlike the hospital plans, it would depend on the age of the member. General practitioners in the IMO want the VHI to pay a fee for each visit by a member of the scheme. The VHI wants to pay GPs a fixed sum for each patient a year.
According to details leaked to the Irish Medical News, the fee would range from £70 a year for a child to £147 a year for a person over 70. Members of the IMO's GP committee are expected to meet in emergency session later this week to consider the latest VHI offer. However, the chairman, Dr James Reilly, said committee members were very angry that the VHI had come back to them with a capitation scheme. At its last meeting, the committee had asked the VHI to come back with a fee-per-visit scheme.
The VHI said yesterday it believed it had taken the doctors' concerns into account. The scheme could only work if a balance was struck between what was attractive to GPs and what was attractive to members. The VHI is expecting to meet the IMO again shortly, a spokeswoman said.
If agreement is reached, the scheme cannot be marketed by the VHI until enabling legislation has been passed.