Private health insurance utilization, which has increased this year despite the cost of living crisis, will continue to rise beyond 2023 unless the government reduces hospital waiting lists and addresses hospital overcrowding, a major health agency said. said. insurance analyst.
About 2.42 million Irish people have private health insurance in the third quarter of 2022, up 0.9% from the second quarter and 3% from the same period last year, industry regulator Health Insurance Authority (HIA) said. ) showed last month.
Dermot Goode of TotalHealthCover.ie said the increase was “primarily driven by sheer fear of having to use public health systems.”
“Until these waiting lists are resolved and people start to trust the public system more, we will see people reduce or cancel their private insurance.
“People are hearing these horror stories from family and friends.”
After dropping earlier this year, premiums are trending higher, partly due to health care inflation
Last week, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said 900,000 people were on a waiting list to meet hospital consultants, with 900 permanent consultant positions available.
This was in response to the Cabinet’s approval of a new Sláintecare contract for consultants who only treat general patients in public hospitals.
The IHCA said the contract, which will pay a salary of €252,150, will not help reduce waiting lists until other important issues are resolved.
The average price of health insurance fell by 3% to €1,412, despite spikes in inflation elsewhere in the economy in the first nine months of the year, HIA reports.
The insurance company offered rebates to members earlier this year. This is due to lower billing during the pandemic when private hospitals were taken over by private hospitals. HSEBut now insurance premiums are on the rise, partly due to medical inflation.
