Private health insurance as a technology of solidarity? The myth of ‘community’ in irish healthcare policy

In Ireland, private health insurance (PHI) has long been lauded in state discourses as a fair system and, more recently, the PHI regime has been represented as embodying a unique cultural heritage founded on social commitments to community and intergenerational solidarity. Based on an analysis of Irish parliamentary (Dáil Éireann) debates between 1956 and 2007, this paper shows how the myth that PHI in Ireland serves as a ‘technology of solidarity’ is constructed and sustained by specific rhetorical strategies deployed around the meaning of ‘community’. We argue that this myth has far-reaching consequences for how ‘solidarity’ is imagined, particularly given the pervasive pull of neo-liberal rationalities over the governance of healthcare.