BUPA Ireland has claimed its entry into the medical insurance market has caused the sector to grow by 6 per cent.

The company says the growth has helped significantly to relieve the burden on the Exchequer.

Lower costs, new standards of customer service and new prevention initiatives have resulted from company's move into the market, managing director, Mr Martin O'Rourke told a meeting of Leinster Society of Chartered Accountants yesterday.

He said he hoped the private medical insurance market could be opened to competition without requiring active EU regulation. The Minister for Health has an advisory group due to report on aspects of the current medical insurance market later this spring.