Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Section 3 of the Bill amends section 7A of the Act and refers to the premia which may be charged under health insurance contracts in certain circumstances. This section clarifies that the obligation on insurers to impose lifetime community rating loadings on premiums is mandatory and cannot be waived by an insurer.

While Section 7A of the Act sets out the circumstances under which increased premiums may be charged, this section also clearly provides that any requirement to pay increased premiums is subject to regulations under subsection (6). In this context, the Health Insurance Act 1994 (Determination of Relevant Increase under Section 7A And Provision of Information under Section 7B) Regulations 2014, were signed into law on 7 July 2014. These regulations provide for premium loadings to be applied to inpatient indemnity health insurance contracts purchased on and from 1 May 2015 and require registered undertakings to set different premium prices depending on the age at which an individual takes out health insurance.

As premium loadings are provided by way of regulation rather than by primary legislation, it is appropriate that any policy change requiring an amendment should be made to the regulation which governs the operation of the scheme.

The amendment proposed by the Deputy will therefore be considered as part of the review of the scheme provided for in the regulations to be carried out by the Health Insurance Authority after April 2017, when the scheme has been in operation for a period of time. While I agree in principle with what the Deputy proposes, it is not necessary now and will not be necessary for at least ten years and it may never be necessary because I hope that within the next ten years we will have universal health cover. It is not necessary at all that it be put into primary legislation because it can be done by regulation. For those three reasons I am not accepting the amendment.

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