asked the Taoiseach if the hospital service charge is included in the cost-of-living index; the number of points allocated to it; and what effect the increase of 4/- per day in the charge in 1957 has had on the index.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cost of Living Index: Hospital Charges.
9.
As was indicated in the article introducing the new series of Consumer Price Index numbers, published in the December, 1953, issue of the Irish Trade Journal and Statistical Bulletin, medical expenses of various kinds (apart from the purchase of medicines) are not included in the Index Number because of the difficulty of obtaining adequate series of prices for items of unchanged quality. The omission does not have an appreciable effect on the index and, in fact, hospital expenses constituted less than 0.25 per cent. of total expenditure as recorded at the Household Budget Inquiry 1951-52 on which the index number is based.