Written answers
Wednesday, 22 January 2025
Department of Health
Insurance Coverage
Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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1364. To ask the Minister for Health if he will work with health insurance providers to remove policy upgrade waiting periods before accessing higher levels of cover; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46528/24]
Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland has a voluntary community rated private health insurance market. The purpose of Community Rating is to ensure that everyone pays the same amount for the same level of health insurance coverage, regardless of their age or health status.
Where an individual upgrades to a health insurance policy with higher cover, they may have to serve a waiting period before they are fully covered on their new policy. Under legislation, a maximum waiting period of two years may be applied to any higher benefit on the new policy. There is no minimum waiting period. Therefore, insurers can shorten the maximum waiting period, or waive it entirely, as a matter of competitive practice. However, this is a commercial decision, and I, therefore, cannot interfere.
It should be noted that the application of waiting periods helps support the principle of community rating, discouraging practices where someone could potentially take out a health insurance policy to avail of a particular treatment and then cancel the policy once treatment had been received without sustained contribution to the community-rated market.
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