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THE HEADS of some of Ireland’s health insurance companies have called on the government to scrap a levy on health insurance policies for children, which is aimed at helping to cover the more expensive cost of covering older clients.
Representatives from VHI, Aviva, Laya Healthcare and GloHealth told an Oireachtas committee that removing the levy would help to encourage some people to renew their previous policies, or maintain their current ones, at a time when the industry was in decline.
A full ‘risk equalisation scheme’ is due to come into effect in January, where older people will be able to reduce the price of their health insurance thanks to a series of tax credits.
These credits are funded by levies payable by the insurers themselves – and though some insurers have pledged to absorb the levy themselves, the moves ultimately mean costs increase for customers to some degree.
This levy currently stands at €285 per adult and €95 per child – but this morning insurers said the levy on policies for children should be cut.
Jim Dowdall of GloHealth said it was vital that younger people be encouraged to keep private health cover, while Donal Clancy of Leya said the levy on children’s policies amounted to a disincentive for familes.
He added that the current situation – where the numbers covered by private policies – created a vicious circle where people were discontinuing their private cover entirely.
This was making it more expensive to cover those who remained in the system, which in turn meant the price of policies would have to go up – in turn, forcing more people out of the system.
The latest figures from the Health Insurance Authority showed that 2,123,000 people were covered by inpatient health insurance as of the end of June – down by 61,000 people compared to the same time a year previously.
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Waiting time for what? If you are in the Emergency Department, it is the same for public and private patients….if you are on a waiting list there is a big difference.
There is no difference between insured and not insured turning up at A&E. The difference is the waiting lists. It’s a gamble, health insurance cuts waiting time for surgery, but is it worth the money?
My question is it worth having health insurance?. My experience so far is my waiting time is practically same. What is others experience?
Mt father has severed with a heart condition for over 15 years , despite the fact he never smoked or drank in his life. He is a member of the VHI and I firmly believe he would not be alive today if he wasn’t. Though the premiums are very stiff for pensioners at the first sign of trouble he is admitted to the Bons Hospital in Cork and gets the care he needs. There is no price too high to know he is never left waiting on a bed or lying on a trolley in some draughty hall. He has worked hard all this life and it’s the very least he deserves.
if the industry is in decline, why did 2 companies join the competition for business.
Money, plain and simple. The general insurance market has annual premiums of approx €1.6 billion pa and about 13/14 main providers. Private health insurance markets annual premiums approx €2 billion and only four providers. Glohealth and Aviva are targeting the younger members of the market by not providing full orthopaedic cover on many of their plans, which does not appeal to the older (riskier) consumers out there.
That was before this came into effect see how quick they are gone when it does come in
Can I ask is there any point in having children’s private health insurance? There are no private beds in children’s hospitals are there? And if your child has a condition you can be assessed privately but you can’t go privately for treatment I think, am I right? So you just end up on a list like everyone else. I am a mum with health insurance for my children by the way.
Susan, for me it’s a question of will my child get seriously ill, yes or no? Private health insurance has no benefits over public when it comes to the normal bumps and breaks your child will have. It’s only an insurance againgts the really serious illnesses that a child may have. Now this is my only personal opinion of course :)
Also I must add that it’s no use having public hospitals that double up as private ones. My wife, who has private health care through work was left on a trolley in St. Luke’s after having surgery because there was not a bed (she supposedly was entitled to a private room!)
Yeah Steve. I’ve experienced something similar, and imagine my shock when my health insurer sends me the invoice a few months later, and I discover that the hospital have charged for private accommodation.
If you have school children and you obtain the 24 hour school insurance that also includes school holidays is it worth having a separate health insurance for them as well?? This is a regular topic of conversation in work and no one seems to know the correct answer!!
Mine is up for renewal and I am buying prize bonds from now on with the money hopefully if and when it’s needed there might be enough to cover me and also I might win a few bob being asked to pay twice for insurance and them to be levied is a disgrace
When my son was a baby he needed an mri of his brain and though we had private health cover, he had to wait 14mths on one as there are no private mris for children. I’m not sure it’s any use though I still pay it.
Oh goodness, poor little guy! From what I read / hear this is common, health insurance for kiddies doesn’t speed up the process at all and that’s worrying.
Gavan, with respect, your headline is misleading. In fact the only one of the four insurers who called today for the levy to be scrapped is GloHealth. (I watched this today, and the others didn’t ask for it to be scrapped). They called for this to be scrapped to attract younger people into the market. The levy is used to fund discounts for older and sicker people, so it’s not surprising that GloHealth want it ended. As a brand new health insurer they are likely to have very few older customers like the other insurers who have been around much longer.
GloHealth are the same people who set up Vivas Health. They are trying to push an American style of health insurance in Ireland. They lobby government intensely.
Here’s a radical way of cutting down on health insurance costs!!!! Cut the bloated payments to hospital consultants! It’s a crime that hospital consultants are earning over €500k a year between public and private work.
A lot of people are under the impression that if you go into a public bed in a public hospital there are no charges. Unless you have a medical card you will be charged for a public bed.
When health insurance was discussed on midweek a few months ago the experts opinion was in favour of people having health insurance if they dont have a medical card. She said that kids should have only the basic level of cover as there are no private childrens hospitals in ireland.
All part of the drive to price health insurance based on risk. Welcome to America.
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