asked the Minister for Health the estimated extra annual cost to the health service of the provision of a choice of doctor for the lower income groups.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Health Services: Choice of Doctor.
15.
I assume that the Deputy is referring to the cost of a choice of doctor in the General Medical Service, at present provided by district medical officers. The amount of the extra annual cost of providing for a choice of doctor in this service would depend on assumptions as to how the scheme with choice of doctor would be arranged. On one such assumption, viz. that the new scheme would be organised on a panel basis, an estimate has been made by my Department for the purpose of the work of the Select Committee on the Health Services. The estimate thus calculated would indicate that, on this assumption, the extra cost (including provision for the supply of drugs, medicines and appliances) would be of the order of £1 million a year, or perhaps as high as £1.6 million a year for a somewhat different scheme. The cost in the early years of such a scheme could be expected to be further augmented by reason of special superannuation liabilities.
If a scheme with choice of doctor were to be organised by payment of doctors on a fee-per-item-of-service basis, experience abroad would indicate that the extra cost would be considerably higher. No estimate of the cost of such a service for the lower income group in this country has been made.