Tallaght University Hospital writes off €12.6m in invoices

TALLAGHT University Hospital has written off a total of €12.6m worth of invoices that health insurers have failed to pay since 2022.

As reported by RTÉ, €125.1m has been written off in private insurance claims by HSE-run and voluntary hospitals over the last four years.

This comes ahead of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee hearing that public hospitals are losing millions of euro a year due to unpaid bills from private health insurers.

Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill told Newstalk Breakfast that it is “very important the HSE have processed [insurance claims] and equally important that the insurance company pays them. And anywhere that falls down is simply not acceptable.

‘That’s taxpayers’ money.”

Fee-paying patients routinely pay millions to public hospitals, yet due to unpaid bills submitted to health insurers, it seems procedures for private patients are carried out free of charge in the public system.

As a result, the taxpayer, rather than the insurer, is footing the bill for treatments, resulting in several hospitals coming under financial strain.

“You and I as taxpayers have built that hospital. We fund that hospital. And if there’s private activity legitimately happening … the taxpayer must be recompensed for that,” the Minister stated.

She went on to say that no one in particular was to blame and that “the consultant has to make sure to sign it within a year. It has to be processed by the hospital and the HSE and the insurance company have to pay it.”

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