Court judgment due today on BUPA/VHI payment

THE Supreme Court will give judgement today on the appeal by BUPA against the High Court’s rejection of its challenge to the risk equalisation scheme (RES).

The appeal was heard by the court last November and it reserved judgement.

A temporary block on a requirement that new companies in the private health insurance market must make risk equalisation payments to the state-backed VHI has continued pending the Supreme Court decision.

Risk equalisation means other insurance companies must compensate VHI for its older customer base.

Earlier this year, the European Court of First Instance dismissed BUPA’s appeal against a European Commission decision to sanction the scheme on the basis that the government was entitled to compel BUPA to make compensatory payments.

The stay on introduction of the RES was obtained in July 2007 by the Quinn Group, which took over BUPA earlier that year.

The Quinn Group has argued elsewhere that it is not obliged to make payments under the RES for a three-year period. It claims it would incur costs of some €30 million if obliged to make payments.