asked the Minister for Health if he is satisfied with the Voluntary Health Insurance Board; the plans he has for the future development of the activities of the board; if he intends to introduce new legislation to cover voluntary health insurance; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - VHI Board.
27.
I am very glad to have this opportunity of publicly recording my appreciation of the very important contribution which the Voluntary Health Insurance Board, and their staff, have made to the excellent standards of health care which we enjoy in Ireland.
I have referred many times to the clear need for a change in emphasis in our demands and expectations of the health services. This applies just as much to VHI schemes as to the public health services. Indeed, as I have recently informed the House, I am very anxious to encourage the development of the VHI's primary care coverage so as to influence patients to make greater use, in appropriate circumstances, of primary care rather than hospital treatment. I have commissioned consultants to examine voluntary insurance schemes in other countries and to assess their suitability for adaptation to meet our requirements. The consultants will also provide an analysis of how suitable models would operate under Irish conditions. The VHI are co-operating fully in this exercise.
The consultants' report is expected before the end of this year. I hope that this will result in the early introduction by the VHI of a comprehensive general practitioner and out-patient scheme. Such a scheme would be warmly welcomed and subscribed to by the general population.
As I have already indicated to the House, the VHI will also have to turn their attention to a radical reappraisal of their existing in-patient schemes. This reappraisal will have to be radical if we are to achieve our long term objectives.
I have already obtained Government approval to an amendment of the VHI Act 1957. The drafting of that legislation is already in train and present indications are that I will be in a position to introduce it early in the new year.
Can the Minister assure the House that the impending legislation will not impose any further restrictions on the VHI in relation to the fees they charge? Will he ensure that they are allowed to operate in the marketplace in similar circumstances as the Irish Life Assurance Company so that they may offer the comprehensive policies to which the Minister referred earlier?
Under the 1957 Act — which has been operated by successive Ministers for Health — the approval of subscription rates of the VHI require prior sanction by the Minister for Health. I do not propose to change that and the legislation will continue to operate with the provision for overall supervision by the Minister for Health.
That concludes Question Time. Deputy Woods has been given permission to put a Private Notice Question to the Minister for Justice.