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A SURVEY HAS revealed that the majority of people believe cuts in health have had the greatest impact after years of recession and austerity budgets.
More than half (53%) of the 1,000 people questioned for the Pfizer Health Index said health had the greatest impact when contrasted with other cuts in social welfare, education, state pension and transport.
It was mentioned first, second or third by more than 9 in 10 people (93%).
More than a third (36%) believe families with young children have been the hardest hit.
While almost 3 out of 4 adults (72%) believe that they’ve been impacted by austerity budgets.
Older adults were nominated as the group second most likely (47%) to have been impacted by austerity.
Economist David McWilliams said, “our economy is showing definite signs of recovery but we need to see sustained and increased growth.
This study found that almost 7 in 10 (69%) people say they are still finding it hard to make ends meet in 2014. The challenge for public policy now is how to capitalise on the recovery in the economy and how to drive that further and faster.
“It also requires a mind shift in how we plan and prioritise public spending – after years of austerity, it is important that policy starts to move quickly away from cost cutting and towards investment”.
Medical Cards
The survey also found that 31% of adults have neither private insurance nor a medical card.
That figure was 23% in 2011.
Since 2010 the proportion of adults holding private medical insurance has declined from 44% of the population to 33% in 2014.
The rate of decline was more pronounced between 2010 and 2012 but has slowed in recent years.
The number of people with medical cards climbed to a high of 44% in 2012, at just under 1.6 million people, but has since retracted to 1.4 million or 39% of the population in 2014.
Professor Charles Normand, Edward Kennedy Chair of Health Policy and Management at Trinity College Dublin, said:
The growth in the population with neither private medical insurance nor a medical card is a key concern and shows that we do need to think about alternative models of healthcare provision such as universal healthcare.
Drinking and Smoking
When asked to assess their own personal health out of ten -where 10 is excellent health and 1 is very poor health – the average volunteered score is 7.9 out of 10.
The number of people smoking is at an all-time low with 25% of adults (aged 16 years plus) currently smoking.
That’s down from 33% in 2012.
Dr Anne Nolan, Research Director, The Irish LongituDinal study on Ageing (TILDA), Trinity College Dublin, said that while smoking in down, drinking has increased:
While an improvement in smoking behaviour is welcome, evidence from TILDA suggests that problem drinking has increased over the course of the recession.
She added that physical activity levels have remained low.
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Like it or not, the statistics show that lower socioeconomic groups suffer from poorer health despite the fact they have free access to GPs while those in the middle class pay their way. Why is you ask? It’s education, diet and self responsibility. % of smokers is high and consumption of fast food also is high along with childhood obesity.. And who pays for this privilege?
Help those who need help, the elderly, the disabled and the infirm.
This ‘disaffected’ group who seem perfectly happy to receive welfare, housing, medical and financial and legal assistance from the state and contribute nothing can go wanting..
We spend 35% of the budget on social protection, sadly those that actually need it are being effected by those who are happy to take it..
End the welfare state now. The rest of us stand on our own two feet, so should you.
Jr, could it be , that their not as capable as the rest of us, not everyone can get a job, people are unemployed because there isn’t work for all,,
Free. GP cards maybe not, if we are going to pay labour then pay enough to live on, and cut out the extras, same problem we have with politicians , but then again the private sector is full of bonus payments also, nothing is straight forward
When there was work for all a lot of these people weren’t working either! There is an element of ‘entitlement’ out there in a small section of our society unfortunately :-(
well said JR, I am sick of those who won’t bother working sitting at home being paid as much as me, I break my bo**ox working to provide for my family, while neighbours of mine live in the same type house and have a great social life, sky sports, yearly holidays abroad and smoke. they drive better cars than me and receive free child care and yes, have medical cards. All paid for by Joan Burton who will not and has not cut the core rates. It pays to do f**k all in this country.
We shouldn’t be providing a living wage to people end of. Those that need it, get it. Plenty of jobs out there, certain sectors were busy having teenage pregnancies and going down the bookies when they should have been studying. Industry moves on and markets make decisions. It’s not our fault they were ‘busy’…
….and the other half are waiting in A & E departments throughout the country so couldn’t take part in the survey.
It’s plain to see that the health system needs fixing – and not a piecemeal reform which is just putting bandaids over major problems –
It Will Not Be Fixed By Cuts and empty promises
Cutting the health budget like they have is incredibly short sighted and unfair and will end up costing the government far far more in the long run
I had to take an unpaid day of work yesterday to spend 8.5hrs in A & E just for an X ray. I felt so bad as there were people with broken bones waiting all day also and I was a very minor case. But this is what I had to do to get an X ray to eliminate worry of fractured bone. Only a vending machine with crisps and chocolate for food. I got one old lady a chocolate bar at 6 PM … 6.5 hours after she got there. This was the first bit of food she had all day. The A and E structure…. or lack thereof. … is a disgrace.
We’re a nation of boozers & we all rate our health 8 out of 10… Good stuff!
Problem is the cuts are in front line care, sevices and staff. Not in the real difficult areas like management which seems ridiculously over staffed
The headline to this story should have been: “Drug company survey finds outcome that backs its own self interest”
If the govt stopped taxing us for a medical system that is over used and abused, maybe people would have an interest in their health, would people smoke if they couldn’t afford operations and would they stay out of mc Donald’s etc. this country is getting fatter
It’s a health system, not the frigging CAO.
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