Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2023: Committee and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2023-11-29
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David Cullinane (SF), Waterford

I move amendment No. 1:
In page 3, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following:
“Amendment of section 7F of Principal Act
2. Section 7F of the Principal Act is amended, in section 4A, by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c):
“(c) In respect of each of the following applicable 3 year periods—
(i) the 3 year period from 1 January 2020 to the end of 2022,
(ii) the 3 year period from 1 January 2021 to the end of 2023, and
(iii) the 3 year period from 1 January 2023 to the end of 2025,
the reference in paragraph (a) to 6 per cent per annum shall, as respects the applicable 3 year period referred to in subparagraph (i), to be read as a reference to 4.9 per cent per annum and, as respects the applicable 3 year period referred to in subparagraph (ii), be read as a reference to 5.5 per cent per annum, and, as respect the applicable 3 year period referred to in subparagraph (iii), be read as a reference to 4.4 per cent per annum, and paragraph (a) shall apply accordingly.”.”.
I will not hold up the Minister of State. I flagged this amendment on Second Stage, when I stated that it was an issue we should consider. The purpose of the amendment is to limit the reasonable profit for insurance providers to 4.4%. This was the level of reasonable profit from 2016 to 2020, after which point the Government decided to increase it to 6% by 2024. The amendment replicates the existing section, which sets the level of reasonable profit over rolling three-year periods, and adds subparagraph (iii) to stipulate that for the period from 1 January 2023 to the end of 2025, the level of reasonable profit should be 4.4%.
There is a cost-of-living crisis in many areas and we have to limit where we can any increases that would have an impact on ordinary working families. Approximately 47% of people have private health insurance for all sorts of reasons. Unfortunately, many people take it out not because they want to spend money on it, but because they need a comfort blanket and do not believe they can depend on the public system. Any additional cost in premiums will be borne by the insurance holders. For this reason, I will press the amendment.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:28+00:00
Sitting date: 2023-11-29