Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 April 2017
613. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Health the number of persons with private health insurance; the number of persons covered by policies in which there is a 10% group discount available through their employer or some other mechanism; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18172/17]
View answerOur community-rated health insurance market means that the cost of health insurance is shared across all members of the market. In general, everyone, with certain exceptions, can buy the same policy at the same price. There are 2.152 million people holding private health insurance in Ireland, or 46% of the population (end-December 2016), which represents an increase of over 30,000 members in 2016.
Section 7(5)(b)(iii) of the Health Insurance Act 1994 provides for a discretionary discount of up to 10%, which an insurer may give to a group of persons on private health insurance contracts. The group discount offered can vary from group to group or plan to plan and also vary over time. On certain plans, insurers routinely offer discounts of 10% of the net premium to all purchasers of a plan. On other plans, insurers selectively offer discounts to employees of certain employer sponsored schemes and the discount may vary depending on the employer.
The Health Insurance Authority monitors the health insurance market and collects relevant information such as the number of people holding health insurance, age breakdown of the insured population, number of plans on the market and other market statistics. As the Authority does not collect information regarding the number of persons covered by policies with a 10% group discount, I am unable to supply information in this regard.
