James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

One of the prime reasons people have to give up private health insurance is that they have lost their jobs and I do not need to remind the Deputy as to the reasons for this. Thankfully, there are now fewer than 450,000 people unemployed; last month there was a drop in the number on the live register for the first time in a number of years. That is the main reason people cannot afford to take out health insurance. I reassure the House that the levy does not increase the cost of insurance in the marketplace, rather it is a transfer of funds from those who are younger and well to those who are older and unwell. The market has become segmented, by which I mean the insurers have sought to create products more attractive to younger people and less attractive to older people and to price them accordingly, the net effect being that it has become more expensive to insure older persons.

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