Aviva customers braced for 15% price hike

AVIVA is set to hike the cost of its insurance coverage for the fourth time in just two years after announcing a 15% price rise that will come into effect in February.

The announcement means that come February, Aviva’s 350,000 customers will have seen a 48% rise in costs since autumn 2009, with a 14% premium increase in October 2009, a 5% rise in May 2010 and a 14% rise in March this year.

A €40 charge was also imposed on customers last April.

A spokesperson for Aviva claimed it “understands affordability is paramount” and “continues to offer excellent value”.

“This step is necessary due to the continued increase in medical inflation and trends in utilisation of health services which have created a substantial escalation effect on claims costs,” the spokesperson said.

“Furthermore, this change reflects the increases in the cost of private beds in public hospitals taking effect from January 1, 2012, as was confirmed in the recent budget, together with costs associated with the health insurance levy imposed on insurers.”

The spokesperson added: “Aviva has put a number of measures in place in an effort to control costs and minimise premium increases.”

The move, which does not factor in the Government’s plan to re-designate and charge for public beds in public hospitals, is the latest in a growing line of price hikes for private health insurance holders.

The most recent of these came yesterday, when it emerged VHI was set to increase the cost of a range of its corporate health plans by an average of 15%.

The cost of its plans have increased twice this year, with families and individuals seeing 15% to 45% increases in February and 2% rises last month.

Quinn Healthcare premium costs rose by an average of 19% in January 2010, and by 13% and 8% in January and April this year.

In the immediate aftermath of the budget, Health Minister James Reilly said he did not accept that new Government plans mean health insurers would have to raise prices by more than 4%.

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