Health Minister Says Plans For Universal Health Insurance "too Ambitious"

Health minister says plans for universal health insurance "too ambitious"

The Minister for Health says plans for Universal Health Insurance by the end of this decade are "too ambitious". Leo Varadkar says he wants to focus on providing free GP care instead - and doesn't want to force new bills on people who cannot afford to pay them. He has also warned that the health system simply can't afford to deal with any more cuts to its budget. He says he only has a limited time in the job - and says a major plan like universal health insurance can't be introduced overnight: "That's something that I think we need to do carefully in a step-wise manner, cause if we do it too quickly we'll overwhelm the existing system which doesn't have the capacity yet to deal with it" he said. "And also we don't want to impose new bills and new charges on people who really can't take anymore". "So what I want to do is prioritise universal GP care first" he added.