THE VHI could in future decline to pay for subscribers to be treated in some public hospitals around the country.
VHI chief executive Jimmy Tolan said yesterday that the company would carry out a review “to see whether it will cover all public hospitals into the future”.
He said insurance companies did not have a right to negotiate with public hospitals on their rates as these were determined by the Minister for Health.
In the Budget last December, the Government increased the cost of private beds in public hospitals by 21 per cent.
Mr Tolan said the VHI had been advised that it had scope under legislation as to whether it had to cover all public hospitals.
He said the company could not take a region of the country and stop covering every public hospital.
Mr Tolan maintained it was possible to decline to cover one hospital or two.
He added that over recent years a large number of new private hospital facilities had come on stream.
He said the Department of Health was aware that the company was about to start its review process.
The new review of the level of cover provided for treatment in public hospitals follows cost-cutting measures put in place by the VHI in relation to fees for hospital consultants and payments to private hospitals.
Mr Tolan said these measures had generated savings of about €85 million. He said a further €15 million had been saved internally within the company.
He said much of these savings had been overtaken by the cost of the recent increase in the private bed charges in public hospitals.
Mr Tolan declined to state whether there had been pay cuts for staff in the VHI.
However, Mr Tolan said the total payroll costs in the company were less than they were two years ago.
On the controversial issue of paying for the higher cost of covering older subscribers, Mr Tolan said that this was “solvable” if the level of tax credits had been set at a level at which these members were not loss-making.
He said this would have involved the health insurance levy increasing by a further €90 rather than €20.
