People with health insurance have been warned to expect the cost of their policies to jump by as much as 20% when they renew this year.
Yesterday, the Health Insurance Alliance released its latest report which revealed that 2.25 million people in the Republic have health insurance - or 46% of the population.
On The Hard Shoulder, Dermot Goode of Totalhealthcover.ie said insurers would be pleased to see that people are still taking out policies despite recent price hikes.
“The rate of growth has definitely slowed down,” he said.
“Which is not surprising when you see rates increasing by 15 to 20%.
“But if I was a health insurer, it’s good news that the market still looks like it is growing - notwithstanding those increasing rates.
“But we’re expecting significant changes over the next 12 months when these increases start to bite home.”
Mr Goode added that although many firms have already announced price hikes for 2025, many people with health insurance have not yet been impacted because they renew later on in the year.
“Bear in mind, the big increases we saw for January 1st and through March and out through April, they won’t impact the peak renewal until we get to November, December again this year,” he said.
“People need to be bracing themselves for 15 to 20% of increases.
“It’s a really difficult one for consumers because, right now, the only other alternative is to rely on that public system.
“Despite the best efforts of people working there, that system is significantly challenged.”
A doctor talks to a patient. Picture by: Alamy.com. Mr Goode has previously advised that there is “no such thing as loyalty in the health insurance industry” and urged people to shop around for a better offer before they click on the renewal button.
“Whether I am with one insurance company for five-years or 35-years, I’m treated the exact same,” he said.
“They simply go by my contract, the terms and conditions of my contract for my last renewal.
“So, I would say to everybody now - and particularly older members - because we know from research that older members are probably overpaying.”
Main image: A stethoscope. Picture by: PA Wire/PA Images.
