Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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78. To ask the Minister for Finance the consultation his officials are having with the Department of Health in drafting the Universal Health Insurance White Paper in view of early leaks of the paper details tax reliefs on health insurance as one of the tools used to increase insurance take-up; if he supports the use of insurance tax relief to incentivise people to take up health insurance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8830/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Officials from my Department have had discussions with officials from the Department of Health regarding the draft Universal Health Insurance White Paper.  It is not unusual for discussions to take place at official level before coming to the political level and these discussions are on-going.   

In addition, I should point out that decisions regarding tax matters are taken in the context of the annual Budget with the consent of the Government.

More generally  regarding the use of tax relief to incentivise people to take up health insurance, the Deputy will be aware that the Commission on Taxation in 2009 acknowledged that medical insurance is expensive and that tax relief plays a role in attracting and retaining individuals within the medical insurance system. However, it also stated that there is a sizeable deadweight element to this relief as many individuals would pay these premiums in the absence of the income tax relief. On that basis, the Commission recommended that the relief should be continued but on a more limited basis. As a result of this recommendation, I introduced a restriction in terms of the amount of medical insurance premiums that qualifies for tax relief in Budget 2014. The introduction of an upper ceiling on the amount of medical insurance premiums that will qualify for tax relief is intended to ensure a continuing incentive via the tax system for those who purchase medical insurance policies, while reducing Exchequer exposure to more expensive policies.