Angola again

Health cover penalty plan a non-runner

Instead of going down the costly road of the once much-vaunted universal health insurance plan, the Coalition now seems intent on forcing people into private insurance. Under its punitive regime of austerity, 47,000 people gave up their health insurance in 2013, while 21,000 have already left in the first three months of this year. Unable to pay exorbitant premiums, nearly 300,000 have abandoned insurance altogether.

In the present economic climate, it is hard to see how allowing private health insurers to charge even more for those aged 35 years and older, can trigger a stampede of younger customers into the market. Nor is it good enough for the Government to say insurance premiums will rise more slowly as a result. Only when the four companies in this cut-throat business offer real incentives in the form of lower premium charges will the haemorrhage be stanched.