IMO calls for universal health coverage

The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has criticised the Government's attempts to use the private health system to shore up an underfunded public system.

And it has launched a position paper calling for a healthcare system that is free at the point of access.

This would be funded through higher taxes or through a new social insurance system.

Addressing the IMO AGM in Killarney today, its Chief Executive, George McNeice, said privatisation in the area of health has been proved to be a failed ideology across the world and can only ever benefit the better off.

“While we acknowledge the role of private medicine in Ireland and the part it has played in the provision of some services, private medicine is not and cannot be a substitute for a publicly-funded system.  Neither is there a case for selling off our public health services to private entrepreneurs, as some people now advocate.”

Launching a position paper on universal health coverage at the AGM, IMO President Prof Sean Tierney said with mounting pressure on the healthcare budget, the fear of lack of services has pushed the debate on universal health insurance firmly onto the public agenda.

Prof Tierney said despite the increase in public healthcare expenditure, Ireland’s health system faces a number of issues and challenges including access to services, inequity and sustainability.

The IMO has outlined broad principles in its position paper, which it says should form the basis of a universal healthcare system. These include universal access to adequate healthcare for all and health services that are free at the point of access.

Prof Tierney said the IMO is committed to a universal healthcare system that aims to secure access to adequate quality healthcare driven by professional patient-centred values. "Healthcare that is there for all when they need it and at an affordable cost.”

[Posted: Fri 09/04/2010]