Price hike should be vetoed

More than 1,500,000 of the country's hard-pressed consumers have good reason to feel aggrieved as VHI, Ireland's biggest health insurance body, pursues what can only be described as an outrageous increase in policy charges.

For people already paying through the nose for health cover, the prospect of having to cough up an additional 18% on top of the existing subscription rate is an appalling vista.

While the department has 28 days to object to such an increase, the Government’s resounding silence will be seen as a sign that the increase has tacitly received the go-ahead.