Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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199. To ask the Minister for Health if there are exemptions for the lifetime community rating for a person (details supplied) in County Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34497/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Lifetime Community Rating (LCR) was introduced in 2015 as a support to Ireland’s community rated-health insurance market, where people who are old or sick do not have to pay more than the young and healthy when taking out a health insurance policy. LCR encourages people to join the health insurance market at a younger age to avoid late entry loadings of 2% per annum which may apply at age 35 and older. The objective of LCR is to ensure sufficient balance between older and younger people, between those who tend to claim more and those who tend to claim less, with the aim of ensuring sustainability of the community-rated market overall.

A person who lived outside the State on 1 May 2015 and moves to Ireland has 9 months (from the date of moving) to purchase inpatient private health insurance without incurring any LCR loadings. In circumstances where loadings do apply, previous periods of inpatient cover are taken into account and can reduce the level of loading applied to a premium. Any loading will apply for a maximum period of 10 years.