Most Laya Healthcare customers will face price increases averaging 4 per cent from the beginning of September.
The company blamed the price increases on a significant increase in the volume and cost of claims over the past year.
The price increases will apply to around 55 per cent of policies and will apply to policies renewed after September 1st. Laya says it has around 500,000 customers.
Laya managing director Dónal Clancy said the company was “acutely conscious of the impact” the increases would have and said it had “tried to minimise the impact across our schemes”.
“We have protected 49 of our schemes from a price increase, and minimised the impact on families with our free kids cover,” Mr Clancy said.
He said the price rises had been driven “by the significant increase we have experienced in the number and costs of medical claims in the past year”.
Mr Clancy said Laya had seen an 18 per cent increase in the volume of claims while the cost of claims has climbed by 15 per cent over the last 12 months.
“While better practices, high-spec technology and improved treatments are all translating into better patient outcomes, they are driving medical costs higher; which in turn has a negative impact on premiums,” Mr Clancy said.
He also pointed to a medical cost management programme implemented by the company which he suggested would deliver efficiencies of €100 million between 2012 and 2016 and had helped minimise the increases.
The Laya price increase sees it join GloHealth and Aviva in upping prices this year and attention now is likely to focus on what will happen and the State’s largest insurer, the VHI. While VHI has made no announcement on its pricing plans, an increase of some kind before 2016 seems likely.
Almost 100,000 new private health insurance policies were sold earlier this year as people rushed to enter the market to avoid age-related penalties introduced at the beginning of May.
Under the new Lifetime Community Rating (LCR) regime which started on May 1st, anyone aged over 34 without private health insurance has to pay higher prices when they take out a policy.
While the price increases will attract most attention, Laya healthcare also announced a range of new and extended benefits.
It has extended its “Free Kids” cover to its Essential Connect Health plan for a second child and every child up to the age of 18.
It will also reduce child rates on 18 schemes by between 3 and 6 per cent and has promised to extend its 24 hour confidential GP Line.
