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GP offices can lose up to € 220 million a year in private patient income not covered by GP or medical business cards when universal healthcare is introduced, according to a spending review by the Department of Reform and Public spending.
The review also estimates that private patients, who make up 57.5% of the patient base, would likely make up to 40% more visits when the changes are implemented.
A previous article from 2019 calculated that extending free medical care to the entire population on the same terms as those currently covered would cost the State more than 630 million euros a year.
Today’s review looked at private households’ annual “out-of-pocket” spending on general practice health care, as opposed to state spending.
Its objective was to assess the “opportunity cost” that GPs face in the course of implementing “free at the point of access” universal medical care, as set out in SláinteCare.
The review points out that, while there is no absolute measure for GPs’ private income, which can vary, it is estimated that GPs currently receive between € 200 million and € 220 million per year in income from private patients who they do not have medical or GP business cards.
Having surveyed a series of studies, the Department estimates that the full deployment of free bedside care will have a “demand effect”, as the currently discovered cohort will make 20% to 40% more visits to their doctor. .
“This will put additional pressure on the GP system, which in many regions is believed to be close to or at capacity,” he says.
“This note estimates that extending the care of GPs to the population on the basis of opportunity cost would cost around 240 million euros to 308 million euros per year, which would allow a change in demand,” he says.
The DPER review also cautions that realizing universal GP care would imply a ‘reformulation’ of the general practice model in Ireland, and that this, in turn, would mean that the real costs of universal GP care header would depend on the care model implemented, and the specific terms agreed.
The 2019 report estimated that extending free bedside health care to the entire population on the same terms as those currently covered for free care would cost, in total, more than € 630 million per year, but that figure could include additional infrastructure and other costs, as well as income to doctors.
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