News | Sunday, 08 February 2009

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Dalli considers ‘health insurance’ to finance medical bill

A health fund that will solely finance Malta’s health system is on the agenda of social policy and health minister John Dalli.
Malta still lacks a health fund, as money from National Insurance payments finances both the entire social security system, and health.
A health fund would be financed through a public and private health insurance system.
But for the time being, Dalli is focusing on “costing each and every service” given in the health system, a spokesperson told MaltaToday.
Last Tuesday, Dalli lashed out against private health insurance companies, describing them as “a farce”.
He slammed their practice of compensating patients who take up a bed at Mater Dei Hospital instead of claiming the same service in a private hospital, calling it “daylight robbery”.
“They push you into a bed at Mater Dei and pay you €40. Whisking people into Mater Dei is daylight robbery… we are being taken for a ride,” Dalli said at di-ve.com’s business breakfast.
Dalli first proposed back in 2003 that private insurance firms should pay for the cost of their clients’ if they are admitted to a public hospital. He repeated his claim on TVM’s Reporter just a few weeks after the 2008 election.
But so far private insurances are only expected to pay for expenses incurred in a private hospital.
Dalli is now hinting at a more radical reform of health financing. “The minister’s ideas include primarily the costing of each and every service given in our health system. When this exercise will be finished, we intend to explore new ways of financing our current expenditure through public and private health insurance,” Dalli’s spokesperson told MaltaToday.
Dalli said last Tuesday that he wants Malta to have a national health insurance scheme topped up by private insurance.
But he acknowledged that “to get there, politicians have to bite the bullet in the interest of future generations.”
Dalli did not however answer a question from GRTU director Vince Farrugia over whether government was considering introducing a new type of health insurance.
Last March Dalli firmly excluded imposing any fees or charges on public health services, an issue which dominated the last week of the electoral campaign after Labour revealed a Ministry of Health report that carried the Cabinet’s agreement in principle with health fees.
The Prime Minister reacted back then saying he would resign if his government introduces any health costs.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt

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