Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children
Health Insurance Sector: Discussion
10:20 am
Mr. Jim Joyce:
It is worth saying that, in respect of the size of the market, we have an unusual situation in this country. We have a free public health system, as it were, while 50% of the population has private health insurance. When the original Health Insurance Act was introduced, between 30% and 35% of the population had private health insurance. We used to speculate about the maximum but we did not expect 50%. The market increased substantially over a long period before it started to reduce over recent years. The fact that such a high percentage of people have private health insurance, when there is a free public health service, is extraordinary.
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