Laya plans 5% rise in health insurance premiums in 2017

Laya Healthcare is to increase the cost of 49 premiums starting in the new year with the average increase across affected plans coming in at 5 per cent.

The company blamed an “unsustainable increase in the cost and volume of claims in public and private hospitals” as well as what it said was “a significant increase in consultant costs”.

Laya said it had tried to minimise the impact on policy holders by reducing the price of seven schemes by an average of 7 per cent, as well as introducing a free kids’ offer for families with two or more children on Essential Connect Family, its most popular family plan.

The company said that under the public bed redesignation charge introduced two years ago, people with health insurance were being charged up to €813 per night for a stay in a public bed while public patients in an equivalent public bed were paying just €75.

Impact compounded

It said there had been a 31 per cent increase in the cost of claims from public hospitals since the charge was introduced, with a 10 per cent increase in the volume of claims. It said the impact was compounded by an increase in the average cost per claim of 11 per cent in 2015 compared with 2013.

The company said it had recorded a significant increase in the cost and volume of claims among Ireland’s private and hi-tech hospitals, where claims had increased by 22 per cent between 2013 and 2015.

An increase has also been recorded in the cost and volume of consultant charges in both private and public hospitals. Laya Healthcare said there had been a 9 per cent increase in consultant costs in public hospitals between 2013 and 2015 and a 12 per cent increase in private hospitals for same period.

“It’s been made clear by all the health insurers in the market that the public bed charges in particular are putting an unsustainable pressure on claims costs and will lead to further increases in premiums,” said Laya’s managing director Dónal Clancy.

“We are concerned also at the manner in which patient waiver forms are being administered in public hospitals.

“We have direct feedback from members who claim to have been put under pressure to sign the waiver while waiting on admission in emergency situations.”