‘Little change’ on medical insurance

The health sector and consumer groups are differing over whether families will be affected by the decision to cap tax relief on medical insurance premiums.

It means tax relief, for adults, on medical insurance will be limited to €1,000 and, for children, to €500.

Health insurance expert, Dermot Goode said it would make little difference as a family of two adults and four children would still get tax relief on premiums of up to €4,000, and most families were unlikely to be paying more than that.

But Insurance Ireland’s Health Insurance Council said the change “would impact upon approximately 90% of all private health insurance products”.

It said the average premium paid per person was €1,048 or €838 net of tax relief at source. Under the new rules, if a product costs €1,200 gross — the net cost will be €1,000 (€800 after applying 20% relief on €1,000 plus the remaining €200 to which no relief applies). Before the entire €1,200 would have got tax relief. Using these figures, the customer would pay an extra €40 per year, Mr Goode said.