Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 November 2016
163. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Health the way in which he plans to address the way the delivery and funding of high quality health care in the context of a major demographic challenge (details supplied); his plans to help keep health insurance affordable in the long term, in view of the fact that claims significantly increase with age; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33996/16]
View answerThe Committee on the Future of Healthcare was established in June this year and has been specifically tasked with examining and costing different funding models for the health service and to make recommendations on a funding approach that is best suited to the Irish context. The committee will present its final report to the Dáil by 23 January 2017.
In relation to private health insurance, in Ireland we have a system of community rated private health insurance which is supported by a Risk Equalisation Scheme. Under the Risk Equalisation Scheme, insurers receive risk equalisation and hospital utilisation credits to compensate for the additional cost of insuring older and less healthy members. The credits are funded by stamp duty levies payable by insurers in respect of each life covered. The Risk Equalisation Scheme ensures that some of the higher cost of insuring older and less healthy members is shared across the market. The Health Insurance Authority closely monitors claims paid by insurers and demographic changes in the private health insurance market. The Authority takes these into account each year when recommending the level of credits and associated stamp duties to apply under the Risk Equalisation Scheme.
The overall cost of private health insurance is influenced by a number of factors including the number of people in the market, the age profile of those holding private health insurance and medical innovations which can have an impact on the cost of care and the cost of claims. An increase in the number of younger and healthy people taking out health insurance helps to control premium inflation, thereby keeping health insurance more affordable for older and less healthy people. Lifetime Community Rating was introduced in 2015 and has encouraged people to take out health insurance at a younger age. In a community rated market this helps to spread the costs of older and less healthy people across all insured persons. The introduction of young adult rates in 2015 has also helped to increase the number of young insured people in the market.
