In April alone some 74,000 people took out private health insurance before the introduction of Lifetime Community Rating on May 1st.
“The number of people covered by health insurance is very clearly rising again, and the six year trend of health insurance cover has been reversed,” said Minister Varadkar.
“My officials and I are now working on more proposals to improve affordability later in the year. I believe that health insurance needs to be made more affordable before we consider how it could be made universal.
“This increase in the number of people holding health insurance is extremely welcome as it helps to control premium inflation and helps to keep health insurance affordable for all.”
Lifetime Community Rating was introduced from 1 May 2015 and late entry loadings of 2 per cent per annum now apply for people who buy health insurance for the first time at the age of 35 and older.
The introduction of the late entry loadings were criticised by members of the opposition.
