Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Okay, the Minister did not write to them, but he made an appeal over the airwaves asking them not to pass on the increase to their customers. I would say the executives of the health insurance companies probably cracked up laughing when they heard that appeal. As a result of this Government's refusal to introduce price freezes or ban the private health insurance companies from passing on the increase provided for in this Bill, it is certain that the companies in question will hike insurance premiums next year. Penny for penny and pound for pound, this will mean insurance policy hikes of between €20 and €41 per adult and between €7 and €14 per child. Health insurance price hikes are now more or less equal, in percentage terms, to increases in rent rates. Rents increased by an average of 11% last year. Health insurance premiums are in the same general field. This comes on top of average health insurance price hikes of 63% in the period from 2008 to 2015. The Fianna Fáil leader, Deputy Micheál Martin, said the other day that he supports wage restraint and argued instead for bringing down living costs as a way of assisting hard-pressed working families. Just days after those comments were made, Fianna Fáil spokespersons are expressing their support for a Bill that will lead to a 10% hike in health insurance costs next year.

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