Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I asked some of the companies that came knocking on my door recently to explain the reason they did not come into the market before. One replied they thought the Irish market was at saturation point at 37% a number of years and they never envisaged it would grow to 52% of the population. The market has grown by encouraging younger people to join, particularly in times of economic success and health insurance is more affordable. The market can grow further and I want to see more entrants to this market. I am determined to work with the Government to make sure we take all the steps necessary to have competition based on community rating and not based on any other criteria. This requires younger people supporting older people and risk equalisation payments to be made. I am asking the House to pass this legislation tonight to protect this.

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