Gov Policies Driving Health Insurance Rise – Kelleher

Fianna Fáil's spokesperson on Health has said the policies being pursued by the Minister for Health are leading directly to private health insurance price increases, announced on Thursday.

TD Billy Kelleher said the 9% increase by VHI was extremely disappointing would not come as a surprise as the Minister for Health was pursuing a policy that is driving health insurance beyond the reach of families and older people.

“What is shocking is that the highest increases today are reserved for older people. This will lead to thousands of older people simply being unable to renew their policies. Families are also facing an increased burden in the order of €200 on the VHI’s most popular plan. 60,000 people dropped out of the health insurance market in 2011 and 5,000 a month are leaving the market, leaving themselves entirely dependent on the public health system. As a result waiting times in hospitals will increase and Minister Reilly is only making the situation worse."

On Thursday, Ireland's largest health insurance firm announced an increase of up to 12.5% in the cost of their premiums from the start of next month.

VHI Healthcare announced it will increase its prices by an average of 9% next month with increases ranging from 6% –12.5%.

The company said the price increase was necessary to fund the healthcare needs of its customers.

Declan Moran, Chief Executive, VHI Healthcare said: “The sole purpose of the price increase is to cover our customers’ healthcare costs in the coming year."

A statement from the insurer said two key factors contributed to the increase - The increased demand for healthcare, with average claims cost per customer increasing by 15% and the contraction of the market.

Mr Moran added: "We are acutely aware of the enormous financial pressures facing our customers and have endeavoured to keep the price increases on our plans as low as possible.

"In particular we have sought to keep our family plans affordable for as many families as we could. Today's price increase is the lowest possible amount we could introduce to ensure we can meet the cost of our customers."

(DW/GK)