Health insurers warned to ‘deal realistically with costs’

The country’s four health insurance providers have been told by the Minister to start slashing costs or else watch their customer numbers collapse.

Responding to the health providers’ warning that premiums will rise by up to 30% if private customers have to pay the full cost of a public bed in a public hospital, Health Minister James Reilly said the health insurers “must come to the table and deal realistically with costs”.

“I don’t personally think there should be any increase in insurance premiums because of the massive amounts of increases over the past number of years,” he said on RTÉ television.