Ireland’s voluntary health insurance market is community-rated, which means that everyone, with certain exceptions, can buy the same health insurance policy at the same price. This is different to other types of insurance where an individual’s premium will depend on the level of risk they represent for the insurer.
Community-rated health insurance is underpinned by the Risk Equalisation Scheme, which works by taking a portion of all health insurance premiums as a stamp duty and putting them into a Fund. Credits are then paid from the Fund to insurers who have older customers and customers who attend hospital. This helps to keep health insurance affordable for older and sicker customers.
The current Risk Equalisation Scheme will run until the end of March 2022, with a new Scheme being developed to replace it.
A consultation document with details of proposed changes to the existing scheme is available at the following link:
https://assets.gov.ie/117796/1fbaef12-0dc4-400e-a068-f77721426d91.pdf