As the Deputy is aware, the issue of taxation is a matter for the Minister for Finance. The private health insurers operate in a competitive market, and the premiums charged for private health insurance policies is a commercial decision for each private health insurance company.
Under the Health Insurance Act 1970, everyone who is ordinarily resident in Ireland qualifies for public hospital care. Notwithstanding this, 43.9% of the Irish population has private health insurance and many people opt to be treated privately. The Irish hospital system contains a mix of public and private hospitals, with public hospitals treating both public and private patients. On admittance to a public hospital, patients make a choice to be treated by a medical consultant on a public basis, or to waive their right to public treatment and be treated on a private basis.
It is not known how many persons who previously held private health insurance will subsequently present for treatment in a public hospital in a future period of time, nor is it possible to predict with any certainty how many people will choose instead to be treated as a public patient, as they are fully entitled to do.