James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2013 provides for a permanent risk equalisation scheme in the private health insurance market from 1 January 2013. It provides the legal framework for risk equalisation in 2013. My policy objectives are to have a risk equalisation scheme that will continue to be as effective as possible in providing the necessary support in terms of community rating, while remaining robust and transparent, promoting fair and open competition in the market and ensuring there is no over-compensation from the scheme for any insurer, as required by the European Union in its approval of risk equalisation in the period 2013 to 2015.

The main purpose of this Bill is to specify the amount of the hospital bed utilisation credit and the amount of risk equalisation credits, in respect of age, gender and level of cover, payable to insurers from the risk equalisation fund from 1 March 2014 and to make consequential amendments to the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 to revise the stamp duty levy required to fund the risk equalisation credits for 2014. In addition, there are some technical amendments to the Health Insurance Acts.