Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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303. To ask the Minister for Health to outline the extent to which he and his Department continue to monitor private health insurance with the objective of the continued implementation of lifetime community rating; if he remains satisfied that all insurers incur their fair share of the responsibility to provide for patients across the age spectrum; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37139/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department and the Health Insurance Authority oversee the maintenance of a competitive and sustainable health insurance market, under the provisions of the Health Insurance Acts 1994 to 2014, and monitor developments on an ongoing basis to ensure that the market is regulated appropriately. Community rating is a fundamental cornerstone of the Irish health insurance system. Under community rating, the level of risk that a particular consumer poses to an insurer does not directly affect the premium paid. This means that people who are old or sick do not have to pay more for the same insurance plan than the young and healthy.

Community rating requires a constant influx of younger people taking out health insurance to help keep premium prices down for everybody. Lifetime community rating, which came into operation on 1 May 2015, modifies community rating so that the premium that individuals pay for health insurance increases with the age at which they enter the health insurance market. Late entry loadings now apply for people aged 35 and over when taking out health insurance for the first time. Lifetime community rating encourages people to take out health insurance at a younger age, thereby helping to spread the costs of older and less healthy people across all insured persons. Without this measure, there would be a continued deterioration in the age profile of the insured population. The number of people now holding private health insurance is 2.118 million, or 46% of the Irish population (end June 2015). This is an increase of over 93,000 since the start of this year and the number has now risen for four quarters in a row. This increase is extremely welcome, as it helps to control premium inflation and to keep health insurance affordable for all who wish to avail of it.

In addition, a robust Risk Equalisation Scheme is also in place to support community rating by equalising risk across the market. All insurers receive payments from the Risk Equalisation Fund in respect of their older and less healthy customers, and this is funded by stamp duties levied on all policies written. This support to community rating ensures persons continue to pay the same net amount for a given health insurance product, keeping health insurance affordable for older and less healthy members.