Today is the final day to buy private health insurance before Lifetime Community Rating (LCR) kicks in.
LCR will affect anyone aged over 34 taking out health insurance for the first time, and comes into force at midnight.
After that, they will have to pay a loading fee of 2% of the gross premium for every year past the age of 34.
The Health Minister Leo Varadkar has urged people interested in taking out health insurance to do so, confirming there will be no extension of the deadline.
"This is an essential measure to protect our system of community rating whereby everyone pays the same premium for the same policy regardless of their age or their health status."
"Lifetime community rating will help to ensure that older and the sicker citizens can still afford health insurance because the healthy and young who do not make as many claims still pay into the system. It will also help to stabilise the market by encouraging people to retain health insurance once they have it", he added.
Dermot Goode from totalhealthcover.ie told the Pat Kenny Show here on Newstalk consumers still have several options.
Last week, Mr Varadkar said the public would not face any penalties if they do not take out private health insurance.
However, Fianna Fáil health spokesperson Billy Kelleher claims the minister is being disingenuous on the issue.
"The fact is that there is no point to Lifetime Community Rating under universal or compulsory health insurance. It is only relevant in a voluntary insurance market where incentives are required to get people to sign up."
"The Minister says that 'lifetime community rating helps to stabilise the market by encouraging people to retain health insurance once they have it'. Again that's fine in a voluntary market, but pointless if the minister is serious about taking the country down the road of UHI where people would not have such an option. Is the Government serious about removing choice from the public?", he added.
