The number of people with health insurance has fallen for the first time in six years.
New figures from the Health Insurance Authority (HIA) show that nearly 1,700 fewer people were insured in the second quarter of this year.
VHI, Laya and Irish Life Health have all announced multiple premium increases over the past number of months.
In its latest quarterly report, the HIA said growth in the market has slowed to its weakest level in a decade.
However, it also noted that quarter two historically records the weakest growth of the year and despite the dip in numbers, all signs are the market remains stable with over two and a half million people holding health insurance at the end of June.
The drop in numbers comes ahead of further price increases from VHI and Laya Healthcare next month.
The watchdog has urged consumers to shop around for better deals.
‘Affordability definitely a challenge’, HIA CEO says
CEO of the HIA Brian Lee said the drop off in health insurance membership may be related to an increase in confidence in the public healthcare system.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said that affordability is an issue in people signing up for health insurance.
He said the reason behind the slight drop off in membership is not yet clear, but he said the market could be at a saturation point in terms of having two-and-a-half million people, half the country, on health insurance.
“It’s not going to grow forever. Also, affordability is definitely a challenge from the research that we have conducted,” Mr Lee said.
In relation to private maternity care not being available possibly having affected membership, Mr Lee said that is potentially a factor as it is something that people consider in private health insurance.
“They need to consider does it meet their current healthcare needs, and can they get the services that they need and people need to make decisions regarding costs and balancing their budgets and so on,” Mr Lee said.
He said that the HIA will start looking at the structure of certain plans that are particularly public hospital orientated, which are becoming less and less relevant over time.
“So, it’s really important that people actually look at the plan that they have right now because some people could be on plans that are very public hospital orientated and they need to look at when they get the renewal letter, do they have the right cover for their needs and do they have the right balance of private and public,” he said.
Mr Lee said the HSA will examine policies that may be less relevant, and that will mean proposing legislative amendments to support that.
He explained that as Sláintecare becomes further implemented across the public system, some private health policies will not be suitable.
“But I think there is a challenge in terms of what’s there and what can be delivered. And that’s something that really needs to be strongly considered by consumers. And the insurers should be very clear in that in terms of what they sell,” he added.