Sir, - Sean L. Murray of BUPA (July 27th), rejects the claim in my letter of July 23rd that his company's policy debars the aged from joining.
To say he is being disingenuous is to be extremely polite because he knows that I have his letter of February 4th, 1997, in which he writes: "Neither ourselves nor VHI accept anyone aged 65 or over seeking to take out medical insurance for the first time." He should also know that his managing director, Mr Martin O'Rourke, telephoned me to tell me the same thing.
However, the matter is easily resolved. If Mr Murray is prepared to state in your newspaper that I, as a 68-year-old, who has paid into private medical insurance for well over 30 years in England prior to settling here four years ago, and any other 65-yearold can join BUPA (Ireland), I shall readily apologise to him and admit that my remarks about his company's age discrimination policy are untrue.
My original letter was inspired by Brendan Glacken's piece on smoking and health: it pointed out what I saw as an unfortunate connection between BUPA (Ireland) and Gallahers, the tobacco company.
It seems to me that something of a smokescreen is being put up now. - Is mise, William Heap,
Lauragh, Killarney, Co Kerry.