€160 levy on Health Insurance

As the successor to Harney's aborted risk-equalisation plan, health insurance companies will now be levied €160 per adult and €53 per child.
They money will be used to provide relief to the over-50s.

I'm not impressed. Another €160 tax for paying for bloody useless health insurance?

WTF ?

That's going to cost me 500 quid.

If I could see the benefit, I could stomach it.

But I just don't get how this entices older customers to switch from VHI.

I feel it will result in people just cancelling their insurance entirely.

As I've mentioned on MachineNation before, I pay my health insurance. I have needed a lot of tests and treatment this year but the insurer won't cover these specific tests or fully cover the treatment.
So I had to pay through the nose for the tests and get the treatment publicly.

It would appear that the scheme will give tax relief not to the customer, but the insurer.
Which makes me much happier.

Yes, I have to pay another €160 but it helps maintain community rating.

The press release here is as clear as mud.

eoinmn wrote:

It would appear that the scheme will give tax relief not to the customer, but the insurer.
Which makes me much happier.

Yes, I have to pay another €160 but it helps maintain community rating.

The press release here is as clear as mud.

I'm still not sure what's happening there - the government is levying €160/€53 on the insurance companies for every adult/child, and putting that back into social welfare?

It's basically an admission by Harney that the best way to deal with health is to ensure the public sector is adequately funded to do what the private sector doesnt fancy.

As mentioned elsewhere:

Public health service = cost of service
Private health service = cost of service + cost of profits

Aragon wrote:

It's basically an admission by Harney that the best way to deal with health is to ensure the public sector is adequately funded to do what the private sector doesnt fancy.

As mentioned elsewhere:

Public health service = cost of service
Private health service = cost of service + cost of profits

Sure. The mad supporters of privatised health have to resort to all kinds of spuriosity to explain why countries with privatised health care spend far more of their GDP on health care than do countries with public health care. Ideological blindness.