PRIVATE INSURANCE company Hibernian Health has said it is to pass on the cost of the new €160 per adult levy introduced by the Government to its 150,000 subscribers from January. However, it also said it is to challenge the new measure, which it described as a tax on health insurance.
The company said it would use all possible means, including a legal challenge if necessary, to have the levy withdrawn.
It said if its action was successful, it would repay the money to customers.
Minister for Health Mary Harney announced several weeks ago that the Government was to introduce a new levy of €160 per adult and €53 per child for everyone covered by private health insurance.
This was effectively to pay for about €300 million in additional tax breaks provided for older health insurance subscribers.
The Government said at the time the measure was aimed at keeping health insurance affordable for this group of people.
The Government feared that, following a Supreme Court decision to strike down a risk-equalisation scheme earlier this year, older people would have to pay substantially more for their cover.
The Cabinet was told by the Departments of Health and Finance that if nothing was done, the bill for an 80-year-old subscriber would rise from €600 to €2,400. Ms Harney said at the time she hoped the cost of the levy would be absorbed by insurance companies and not passed on to subscribers.
Hibernian Health, the health insurance arm of Hibernian Group, said yesterday the levy was "anti-competitive, anti-consumer and unnecessary". Hibernian Health managing director Jim Dowdall said the levy, if implemented, would make private health insurance unaffordable for many consumers and companies.
