Health insurance for older people ‘unlikely to increase’

OLDER people need not fear that higher health insurance charges will follow last week’s Supreme Court decision to strike down the state’s risk equalisation scheme, a health insurance expert said yesterday.

Last week the court unanimously found that the Government had misinterpreted its own legislation on community rating.

As a result of the ruling the VHI will not receive €40 million in backdated payments it was due from rival firms under risk equalisation, a scheme designed to compensate it for having a larger proportion of older, more costly customers.