Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 25 November 2015

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Health

Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage

5:30 pm

Photo of Mary Mitchell O'ConnorMary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Deputy Kelleher. I recently rang my health insurance company to go through the policy I had in the past year.

If I become stroppy, say the premium has gone up too much and am about to hang up, they will say they can offer the same premium. Why is maternity cover pushed on women who are over the age where they require such cover? I acknowledge the Minister explained this previously. Perhaps I stand to be corrected but I understand men pay for this cover as well, which is ridiculous. Why would that be built into insurance cover? One has to become stroppy and with the last throw of the dice say one is leaving the company before they come up with an alternative policy that might be €400 or €500 cheaper. I do not expect the Minister to address that but I would say to the insurance companies that this is not good enough.

They also offer a corporate rate. They will ask whether the customer is in a union or a company and they are willing to offer a cheaper rate to keep the person on side and this is also not good enough.

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