4,000 people a month cut health insurance

The number of people with health insurance is set to drop below 2 million for the first time in a decade as almost 4,000 people a month abandoned their health cover between April and June.

Figures from the Health Insurance Authority revealed 11,000 people scrapped their plans in the second quarter of 2014, with 41,000 scrapping their health cover in the year to the end of last June.

According to the HIA, 2,017,000 people had health cover at the end of June 2014 — a fall of almost 300,000 compared with the peak of the market in 2008.