Sir, - The ESRI report "Private Practice in Public Hospitals" - and the media coverage of it - would lead one to the conclusion that private patients are being unfairly subsidised and pulling a fast one on the State. Matters are not so simple.
Perhaps an ESRI study on sources and uses of health care funds would have been more instructive. The 45 per cent of the population with private health insurance are paying twice for health care services: first, through the general taxation system; and second, through private health insurance.
Through their taxes, the privately insured pick up a disproportionately high amount of the costs of the public health system. Yet they cost the public system a disproportionately low amount, because roughly half their hospital use takes place in private hospitals, and for services which they receive in the public system, private insurance applies (albeit not fully). To many, typically with private health insurance, this situation is inequitable. To others it is merely the workings of a progressive taxation system and a poorly conceived health care system.
When the ESRI is commissioned to conduct a study that bolsters the arguments for increasing public hospital revenues from private patients, why not be up-front about what is going on? The Department of Health and Children is getting ready to put a further squeeze on people who have already paid twice for access to health care.
As the debate on building a better and more equitable health care system unfolds, let's ensure that it is an open and honest debate! - Yours, etc.,
Michael Moore, Mount Pleasant Square, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.