Sir, – In relation to Sláintecare, Dr Catherine Conlon continues to propagate the myth that the British approach to healthcare (funded entirely from general taxation) is the norm across Europe (Letters, October 5th).
Having lived in Germany for many years, I can assure her that it is not. In Germany everyone, by law, has health insurance and is treated as a private patient, a system that was adopted by the Netherlands in 2006. In the 2011 general election the Irish people voted for a German-style universal health insurance system as a major component of Fine Gael’s manifesto, a proposal strongly supported by Prof John Crown, among others. Unfortunately this pledge was abandoned by the politicians in 2015.
I am grateful to Dr Conlon for providing the quote from Prof Patrick Broe, which included the statement that Sláintecare “can only result in a new kind of two-tier system”. It is patently obvious that Prof Broe is right; Sláintecare will lead to a more extreme form of two-tier healthcare, one where patients, GPs, consultants, hospitals and other healthcare facilities are forced by legislation to choose sides, a form of 21st-century civil war.
The recent Sláintecare resignations provide an opportunity for us to reflect and to revisit the divisive, ideologically driven notion that is Sláintecare and to save the country from another generation of failed experimentation in healthcare. – Yours, etc,
Dr NORMAN STEWART,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.