Nearly all those with health insurance say they buy it to be sure of getting into hospital quickly and receiving good treatment, a study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) shows.
The survey was conducted among about 2,620 people in an ESRI monthly telephone consumer survey last year. About 43 per cent of those surveyed said they had private health insurance. The survey's findings are included in the ESRI study, Private Practice in Irish Public Hospitals, published today.
Insured people appeared relatively insensitive to a price increase next year of between 10 and 20 per cent, though over one-third said they would be very or quite likely to give up insurance if the price rose by 50 per cent.
Asked what would most concern them about having to rely on the public hospital system, three-quarters said it was the length of time they might have to wait for treatment. About one in five said quality of care would be the main concern.
Just under half the insured people surveyed said they personally knew family friends or neighbours who had recently had lengthy waits for public hospital treatment. Almost two-thirds said they thought waiting times for treatment in public hospitals were longer now than five years ago.
While access has remained a key reason for buying health insurance throughout the 1990s, the study says quality of care is more important now than in 1991 when a similar study was conducted.
Seven out of 10 of the uninsured people surveyed said waiting times were the main reason they would seriously consider taking out private health insurance.