BUDGET PERSPECTIVES 2017, PAPER 1. Challenges in Achieving Universal Healthcare in Ireland. June 2016

Wren, Maev-Ann and Connolly, Sheelah (2016) BUDGET PERSPECTIVES 2017, PAPER 1. Challenges in Achieving Universal Healthcare in Ireland. June 2016. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

The World Health Organization has advocated universal healthcare as the best means of improving global health. However achieving universal healthcare is not without challenges: from defining the goal of universal healthcare to identifying the most appropriate methods to achieve it. Ireland is unique in the EU in not having universal coverage of primary care. In 2011, a newly-elected government committed to the development of a universal, single-tier health service, to be financed by a new system of Universal Health Insurance (UHI) provided by multiple, competing private insurers. A White Paper published in 2014 outlined the proposed UHI model. However, in 2015 in response to publication of a study of the potential cost implications of the proposed UHI model, the Government abandoned this model.

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