asked the Minister for Health if he is aware that persons who are insured under the voluntary health insurance scheme and who require medical check-ups are obliged to pay their own costs where they attend a doctor's surgery but are covered by the scheme when they enter hospital; and if, in view of the fact that under this arrangement hospital beds may in some cases be unnecessarily occupied to the exclusion of more urgent cases, he will request the Voluntary Health Insurance Board to extend cover to persons attending doctors' surgeries for check-ups.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme.
5.
I am aware that cover under the Voluntary Health Insurance Board main scheme does not include assistance towards the cost of out-patient consultations and treatments.
The implications of this exclusion have been examined already and I am satisfied that it does not result generally in hospital beds being used unnecessarily. Moreover, members of the main scheme for at least two years have the option of joining the supplementary out-patient scheme which gives, at moderate extra charges, considerable assistance towards the cost of illness or medical investigation outside hospitals. Therefore, I do not propose to ask the Voluntary Health Insurance Board to extend the cover provided in the main scheme in the manner suggested.
Would the Minister not agree that under the present scheme it is much more economic for a person to go into hospital for 48 hours, or more, to have an investigation made rather than have it done in the outpatients' department? In the latter case an investigation may cost anything from £20 upwards. Does the Minister not think it is only natural for people to avail of hospital beds because benefit is available?
The number of acute hospital admissions per 1,000 of the population in the case of VHI members fell in the last four years. The number is very much lower than the number of acute hospital admissions from the total population. These charges are very reasonable. They vary from £1.5 per annum in the case of a single person to £6 in the case of a married couple with four or more children. They cover 80 per cent of the expenses in excess of £20 in the case of a single person and 75 per cent of the expenses in the case of a married couple with children under 18. It is an excellent scheme.
Has the Minister any information about the number of VHI patients admitted for less than four days?
I have not that information.