Personal Finance: Don’t quit your plan just yet

Two new reports advocate stopping expenditure on private healthcare. But it may be a bumpy road before we get to a quality state system

Will the new egalitarian state healthcare system deliver the high service standards people currently get through private services? PIC: Monkeybusinessimages

Why do people with low enough incomes to qualify for medical cards still buy private health insurance? We could ask the same in relation to Irish pensioners on low incomes who automatically qualify for a GP card at 70, or for a means-tested medical card.

This question has been addressed by health economists from the Trinity College Dublin Centre for Health Policy and Management in a recently published paper, Private Health Expenditure in ...