I move amendment No. 5:
In page 5, delete lines 25 to 35 and substitute the following:
"under section 2, it shall notify the Minister in writing of the proposal not less than 30 days before the date on which the proposed increase is intended to have effect and, in determining the amount of the increase, shall have due regard to any representations made by the Minister to the Board during the said 30 day period.
(2) The Minister may make regulations enabling him to issue, within 30 days of the notification of a proposed increase referred to in subsection (1), written directions to the Board requiring the Board not to implement the said increase. Any such regulatons shall provide that the Minister shall, when giving a direction to the Board pursuant to the regulations, at the same time give to the Board his or her reasons in writing for the direction.
(3) The Board shall comply with a direction issued by the Minister pursuant to the regulations referred to in subsection (2).
(4) Every regulation made by the Minister under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything done hereunder.".
In tabling this amendment I agree with what the Minister is doing but I am adding to it. When the regulations are made by the Minister under this section, they should be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as they are made. If they are not annulled by either House within 21 days they will take effect. It is important that the Oireachtas has an opportunity to debate the policies of a health insurer, whether it is the VHI or another insurer, which applies for increases.
The Minister is amending the Voluntary Health Insurance Act, 1957, because of the difficulties various Ministers have had over the years. There has been a cosy agreement between the VHI and Ministers that Ministers would be informed of increases the company may wish to make, but would not have power to prevent increases. It would be good from both our point of view and that of the health insurance providers if we had such a debate in the House. If the Opposition did not want to initiate a debate, the regulations would go through. The amendment provides an extra way of ensuring that the VHI responds to the needs in the health insurance market while at the same time not imposing premiums, like those in the past 12 months, which are running well above the rate of inflation.