Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 10:

In page 11, before section 9, to insert the following new section:"9.--Section 7A of the Principal Act is amended, in subsection (7):

"(c) notwithstanding the introduction of Universal Health Insurance,require that the registered undertaking concerned, to take into account the circumstances referred to in subsection (4).".".

The purpose of the amendment is to address the spiralling cost of health insurance. We are all aware that health insurance premiums have at least doubled since 2009 and that up to 200 people a day are leaving the health insurance system. It was reported again over the weekend that families faced an increase of €400 per annum in health insurance premiums in a new round of price increases. Officials of the Health Insurance Authority who appeared before the committee a few weeks ago said the provisions included in the 2001 Act on lifetime community rating would help to reduce the cost of insurance.

All the insurers who came before the committee made that point.

In a report produced by the Health Insurance Authority, HIA, last year, it was indicated that if risk equalisation was fully introduced across the board to cover age and gender, the levy would be set at approximately €400. That is approximately €1,000 per family of two adults and two children. It is also without covering the issue of health status, which we are now including with this legislation.

Currently, families are paying approximately €760 to cover risk equalisation. Premium inflation is putting significant pressure on families, with 80,000 people projected to leave the system this year. It is putting greater pressure on premiums paid by older people, and incentives must be put in the market to grow it. We all agree that the market should be grown because if it is not widened, we will put pressure on the public hospital system. We would be making it more expensive for foreign direct investment coming into the country, with many companies paying the cost of private health insurance for employees. That will put a mountain before any attempts to implement universal health insurance.

Under the Dutch model, before the introduction of universal health insurance, approximately 80% to 90% of the population had private health insurance. Our level is already at less than 50% and it is falling dramatically. Within the next couple of years the level will probably be under 40%, which puts a major challenge to the Exchequer, especially if the numbers have to be increased as part of the introduction of universal health insurance.

My amendment would introduce a provision in the legislation stating that the 2001 Act, which introduced lifetime community rating, would roll over into the new universal health insurance system. The HIA and the insurers which came before the committee have argued that the enactment of that provision would have a direct impact on the overall cost of health insurance for families throughout this country. The difficulty, according to the HIA, is that they could not advise the introduction of that particular provision because of the proposed introduction of universal health insurance, which would level the playing pitch for everybody. In theory, it is ideal to level the pitch for everybody but the difficulty is that the challenge of introducing universal health insurance would be far greater.

I am asking the Minister to consider the continuation of the incentive into the new universal health insurance system. That would allow for the regulation to be signed tomorrow morning and send a clear message to the people coming in before a 35th birthday that there is an incentive in the long term for them to be in the health insurance market. There is currently no such incentive. By introducing age related community rating that would continue in the future, along with full tax relief, there would be an impact on the current cost of health insurance and the long-term viability of health insurance.

I do not believe my time is restricted in speaking on Committee Stage.