Families Struggling To Pay Health Insurance

A patients advocacy group has expressed concern that many families are now unable to meet the cost of health insurance. The Irish Patients Association said health insurance costs were making it difficult of subscribers to pay premiums just as Aviva Health said 350,000 of its customers would receive a 15% rise in their premiums from mid-February. VHI is also raising premiums for 20,000 people on corporate plans. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, the IPA's Stephen McMahon said: "Private health insurance within the last couple of years has gone up almost 100%.

"If you were to wait another six years you could see an average family of four paying something in the region of seven or eight thousand euro for their private health insurance.

"If that's the kind of contribution you would have to make within a universal system, i think there would be huge challenges there."

(DW)