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Unwinding the State subsidisation of private health insurance in Ireland

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  • Turner, Brian

Abstract

Ireland's private health insurance market provides primarily supplementary health insurance for hospital services, operating alongside a public hospital system to which residents have universal access entitlements, subject to some copayments for those without a medical card. The State subsidises the purchase of private health insurance through measures including tax relief on premiums and not charging the full economic cost for private beds in public hospitals. Furthermore, privately insured patients occupying public beds in public hospitals did not, until 2014, incur charges for such accommodation, apart from modest statutory charges. In the Budget in October 2013, a number of measures were announced that began to unwind these subsidies. Although it was initially feared that these measures would add to premium inflation, leading in turn to further discontinuation of health insurance, the evidence suggests that premium inflation has eased and take-up has stabilised, although some of this may have been due to the introduction of lifetime community rating in May 2015. Nevertheless, it would appear that the restriction on the subsidisation of private health insurance has not had a significant adverse effect on the market, while it has reduced an inequitable cross-subsidy.

Suggested Citation

  • Turner, Brian, 2015. "Unwinding the State subsidisation of private health insurance in Ireland," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(10), pages 1349-1357.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:119:y:2015:i:10:p:1349-1357
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2015.08.008
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Health Research and Information Division, 2012. "Activity in Acute Public Hospitals in Ireland, 2011 Annual Report," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number sustat45.
    2. Jane Bourke & Stephen Roper, 2012. "In with the new: the determinants of prescribing innovation by general practitioners in Ireland," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 13(4), pages 393-407, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Connolly, Sheelah & Brick, Aoife & O'Neill, Ciarán & O'Callaghan, Michael, 2022. "An analysis of the primary care systems of Ireland and Northern Ireland," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS137.
    2. Simone M. Schneider & Camilla Devitt, 2018. "How do the Foreign-Born Rate Host Country Health Systems? Evidence from Ireland," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 49(1), pages 45-71.
    3. Conor Keegan & Aoife Brick & Brendan Walsh & Adele Bergin & James Eighan & Maev‐Ann Wren, 2019. "How many beds? Capacity implications of hospital care demand projections in the Irish hospital system, 2015‐2030," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 569-582, January.
    4. Murphy, Aileen & Bourke, Jane & Turner, Brian, 2020. "A two-tiered public-private health system: Who stays in (private) hospitals in Ireland?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(7), pages 765-771.
    5. Xidong Guo & Eóin T. Flaherty & Huihui Li & Jiming Zhu, 2024. "The More Private Patients, the Fewer Public Patients? Evaluating the 2014 Hospitals Reform in Ireland," Working Papers 202403, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    6. Whyte, Richard & Connolly, Sheelah & Wren, Maev-Ann, 2020. "Insurance status and waiting times for hospital-based services in Ireland," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(11), pages 1174-1181.
    7. Conor Keegan & Conor Teljeur & Brian Turner & Steve Thomas, 2017. "Addressing Market Segmentation and Incentives for Risk Selection: How Well Does Risk Equalisation in the Irish Private Health Insurance Market Work?," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 48(1), pages 61-84.
    8. Connolly, Sheelah & Wren, Maev-Ann, 2023. "Towards universal healthcare in Ireland – what can we learn from the literature?," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number SUSTAT121.
    9. Kanika Kapur, 2020. "Private Health Insurance in Ireland: Trends and Determinants," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 51(1), pages 63-92.
    10. Keegan, Conor & Brick, Aoife & Wren, Maev-Ann, 2018. "An examination of activity in public and private hospitals in Ireland, 2015," Papers WP601, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    11. Keegan, Conor, 2020. "The introduction of lifetime community rating in the Irish private health insurance market: Effects on coverage and plan choice," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).

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