Health insurers are at odds with the Government over how much planned new charges which Minister for Health James Reilly is seeking to introduce for private patients treated in public hospitals, will actually generate.

The Irish Times reported last week that the Government was to defer the implementation of the controversial charges for private patients in public hospitals until the beginning of next year.

Insurers have been opposed in principle to the Government’s planned move for some time.

However, it is understood when the Government published the precise level of charges it wanted to introduce last week, it sparked off a dispute with the insurance industry over whether they would realise sums significantly higher than the €30 million the Minister for Health said he wanted to raise.

At present, 20 per cent of beds in public hospitals are designated for private use, and insurers pay the full cost of using these beds.

However, large numbers of private patients are accommodated in public beds outside of this allocation, at a daily charge of €75.

The new legislation will allow for all private patients to be charged the higher rate.

Dr Reilly told the Dáil last week that from the beginning of 2014 the daily charge for overnight inpatient services in a single-occupancy room in a “category I” public hospital (the main teaching hospitals) will be set at €1,000.

The daily charge for overnight inpatient services in a multiple-occupancy room in a category I hospital will be €813.

The daily charge for day-case inpatient services in a category I hospital where overnight accommodation is not provided will be €407.

The Department of Health maintained that these new charges would generate €30 million in additional revenue next year.

However, it is understood the health insurance industry has argued that the proposed charges could actually generate sums of over €100 million, and according to some estimates up to €154 million.

The deferral of the introduction of the charges will allow for an independent assessment of the amount which the charges will realise.