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Universal health insurance remains a priority – Minister

The Government’s original model of universal health insurance, proposed by former Minister for Health James Reilly, would have increased the cost of running the health service by €650 million annually, the Cabinet will be told today.

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The Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin says Government moves to abandon its policy on Universal Health Insurance “are a resigning matter”.

Minister Varadkar is expected to ask for more research to be done and to urge the Government not to make a decision until late in a second term, if re-elected.

Third term Under the Minister’s new proposals a system of universal health insurance – which was to be have been the centrepiece of the Government’s healthcare reform programme – would not be put in place until a third term.

“This has developed over the last four years, as the Government passed dishonest budgets and lied about the imminent arrival of Universal Health Insurance”.

The original plan would have involved additional costs of more than €650m which, the research concluded, “would not be outweighed by benefits in terms of improved patient outcomes, lower healthcare prices or lower premiums”.

“I always thought that it was invidious that you had two different streams of health, depending on the insurance cover that could afford to pay for”.

A generous subsidy system in which the State paid in full for all medical card and GP visit card holders, all children, plus a subsidised cap to ensure no-one would pay a premium of over €1,200, would cost the exchequer €6.3bn each year.

Under the multi-payer system, in which healthcare would be funded by private and public contributions, another 8pc of the population would still be paying out €1,671 per adult, even with a 25pc State subsidy.

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The Cork TD rejected suggestions that Health Minister Leo Varadkar deserves credit for admitting the plans could not materialise.

James Reilly