Thousands across Ireland facing up to €600 increase as health insurance prices spike

Thousands of people across Ireland are set to pay higher health insurance costs as the three main health insurers are increasing their premiums from this week.

VHI, Laya Healthcare and Irish Life Health are all increasing their prices which will see some families costs rise a whopping 27%, up to €600 or more, when they renew their plan.

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The premium rates charged by the three main health insurers will go up from today (Wednesday October 1), with VHI and Irish Life announcing an average increase of 3% and Laya Healthcare increasing by an average of 4.5%, marking the second increase by all three this year.

Speaking on the increases, leading broker of Health Insurance Ireland, Dermot Goode, said customers should never rely on the average figures quoted above.

"In many cases, the actual increase will well exceed these average figures. More importantly, consumers are forgetting there there were other increases earlier in the year, which are also coming their way."

Depending on the plan they hold, Mr Goode said customers can expect to face increases of between 4% and 27%, and families who are insured with VHI can expect to pay an additional €156 to €428 when they renew.

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Increases from Laya Healthcare will see families pay between an additional €4 and €366 from this month while Irish Life Health members will face an increase of between €130 and €230 per adult.

Health insurers are blaming the increases on rising claims cost, particularly from the private hospital sector, however, the regulator for the sector, The Health Insurance Authority, said growth in the market was slowing down.

It stated 46% (2.53 million people) of the population have private health insurance. There was an increase of 4,130 people with private health insurance in the three months to June which was down from an increase of 7,318 in the first quarter of the year.