James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

Others must wait six or seven years to see a consultant to get on a waiting list. People are not fools and while the Minister can fool some of the people all of the time, she cannot fool all of the people all of the time. That is why people have woken up to the fact that under the Government the future will remain extremely bleak economically and in our health service and education system.

I refer again to the levy having a disproportionate impact on families and students. A number of players in the market currently operate tiered discount pricing for children and students, for example, the fourth child free or child pricing for students as set out in the Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2007 for 18 to 20 year olds. However, the levy is calculated at a flat rate of €53 per child, regardless of the cost of the premium. Even though a child may be free, therefore, he or she will incur a tax of €53. In addition, the levy does not differentiate between students and adults, although students are on discounted premia, as set out in the Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2007. All students will incur an additional cost of €160 each. The Government has increased the registration fee and the Minister wants to whack the parents of students who have insurance with another charge of €160. People are hurting and they will hurt all the more because of this unwise move.

The levy will also significantly increase the cost of employee benefits to companies. A number of large multinational companies, particularly from the US, provide private health insurance as part of their standard employee benefit package, which should be encouraged. The levy will further increase the costs for such packages, thereby increasing the cost for companies to trade in Ireland at a time they face severe economic challenges. They have not been helped either by several local authorities increasing rates just to rub the salt in.

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