Be careful what you wish for
There is an old story about the lame man who prays for a miracle.
He has one good leg, and one badly distorted leg as a result of some accident or other.
He hobbles up to the altar and beseeches God to make both his legs the same. In a blinding flash his prayers are answered and he ends up with two badly distorted legs.
That is a rather nice illustration of what our illustrious Minister for "Health" is doing to the Health Service.
At present we have a hopelessly dysfunctional Public Health System where there are massive queues for essential operations, people having to sleep on trollies in Accident & Emergency Departments, and God help you if you need an ambulance – you'd be quicker walking. Money is being drained away by this system faster than a wino pissing in the gutter.
On the other hand there is the Private System. Here people take out private health insurance and if you need some medical procedure you will get it more or less straight away in the best hospitals around. This system is outrageously expensive but it works, and if you place any value in yourself it's the system to opt for.
Now Reilly reckons he is going to do away with this two-tier system and make it a one-tier system, whereby insurance is compulsory for every man woman and child in the state, mostly paid for by taxes [i.e. you and me again].
Under UHI, everyone will have equal access to a standard package of services. Health insurers will not be allowed to sell products that provide faster access to these services.
Why do I have a horrible feeling we are going to end up with two badly distorted legs?
Health Minister or Temple Bar Wino?
I'll let you decide.
Welcome to obamacare. He has taken the greatest healthcare system in the world and reduced it to your two-tier system. The future of obamacare is to move towards a single-payer system, ie. the taxpayer. So you're not alone in this ridiculous system of grabbing more taxes and giving little in return.
There was me thinking that the government set up the VHI in the first place so that people with money could jump the queue.
Or can anyone explain why it got involved in private health care in the first place.
Is it just me, or is this a bit like ryanair giving everyone priority boarding as standard and charging double for the privilege.
Indeed the VHI is supposed to be a "state sponsored" non-profit organisation. So Reilly is fighting against himself here. Maybe no one told him?
You've got to be shitting me! Seriously? This guy is the biggest threat to public health ever
I used to oppose all of these socialist schemes our esteemed leaders kept coming up with. Lately I have been reconsidering. I've given up hope of reigning in their excesses. I've been wondering if we should not let them build their colossal pile of shite and sit back and watch as it collapses. Granted a lot of people will be ruined, even injured or killed, but just maybe the survivors might learn something and prevent it from happening again in the future.
"Your " … illustrious Minister for "Health" is, like all politicians, a cnut.
That is all.
Fatso Reilly always reminds me of Brendan Grace’s appearance in Father Ted as Father Fintan Stack. “I’ve had my fun and that’s all that matters”, wonder how long it is before he retires on a massive pension after making a total mess the system (well a bigger mess)
I'd say a heart attack will arrive before the pension. Well, there's always hope?
If it goes ahead I suppose we can look forward to the cancelling of RSI payments and USC levies? Ahem! These are supposed to be paying for the current system, surely they don't expect us to pay twice (thrice?) .
Hahahahaha!! Yeah. Right.