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

The Government is working off flawed figures on this. Approximately 90% of adult premiums are over the threshold of €1,000. The Health Insurance Authority in a report earlier this year stated the average premium paid per insured person including children in 2012 was €1,048. The premiums for children are significantly lower, and in some packages they are free, so when they are taken out of the calculation the average insurance premium for an adult is well in excess of €1,000. The provision announced today will mean an increase of between 5% and 22% on premiums for adults in the private health insurance system. To put this in plain English, someone on VHI Plan B Options, which is not a gold-plated policy by any manner of means, pays €1,830 at present, the gross cost is €2,300, and the person will face a 15% increase in premium as and from tomorrow morning because of this. On top of this, the €30 million announced in additional bed charges will see an extra 5% to 10% being levied on top of insurance premiums. This is on top of increases coming down the track with regard to medical inflation. Someone on VHI Plan B, which is a pretty basic health insurance policy, will, over the next 12 months, face a minimum of a 30% increase in his or her premium, much of which is on foot of the initiative announced in the budget. Will the Minister explain how many people are to be affected by this? I am sure the Department has figures on it. I would like to know because the figures I have are very different to the ones he has. Mine are based on the Health Insurance Authority's annual report.

What is the situation for people who have already received renewal notices? Normally insurers send out renewal notices approximately four weeks in advance to give people the opportunity to shop around. People have already received renewal notices based on the existing tax relief. What will be the situation for them tomorrow morning if they renew their policy? Must the health insurer reissue a new revised statement? What happens if it is due tomorrow? Will a person end up without cover until he or she figures out who will make up the differential?

This has come like a bolt of lightning to the insurance industry. It does not have the systems in place to make the revisions for these particular calculations in the renewal notices which will go out tomorrow, Thursday, Friday and next week. Who carries the can in this regard?

The Minister made the point very well that the cost to the Exchequer is increasing significantly and has increased from €400 million in 2011 to €500 million in 2013. I am blue in the face from explaining to people in this House over the past 12 months that insurance premiums are going through the roof. I have been ignored by the Minister. We need to tackle this issue by the scruff of the neck but the Government is abdicating its responsibility. It will not cost it any more in spiralling insurance costs and more and more people will haemorrhage out of the health insurance system, which will put additional burdens on the public hospital system which is already creaking. I urge the Minister to reconsider this and withdraw this proposal. The Government will be revisiting it very soon because it is ill-thought-out. The figures do not stack up. Perhaps the Minister will clarify this in his response. They do not seem to stack up and it will cause untold hardship for people who have already received their renewal notices.

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