IRELAND’S SECOND LARGEST health insurance provider Laya Healthcare is hiking up its prices by 4%.

The price hike comes into place on 1 September.

The company says this is due to a significant increase in the number of medical claims in the past year.

Laya Healthcare is the third health insurance provider to up the cost of their policies this year, following Aviva and GloHealth insurers.

No blanket increase

The company said there is no blanket increase and today’s rise relates to just 55% of their policies.

There has been a rise in the number of people signing up for health insurance this year, due to the government’s introduction of the Lifetime Community Rating. This gave a deadline for some 74,000 people to sign up for health insurance or face a penalty.

In April, it saw 102 people signing up for health insurance every hour.

Now many of those people have seen price increases across three of Ireland’s top insurance companies.

Price increase 

Dónal Clancy, Managing Director at Laya healthcare explains the company is “acutely conscious of the impact this adjustment will have on some of our members, and we have tried to minimise the impact across our schemes”.

Overall, 49 schemes will not be affected by the price increase.

This price review has been driven largely by the significant increase we have experienced in the number and costs of medical claims in the past year.We have seen an 18 per cent increase in the volume of claims, while the cost of claims has climbed by 15 per cent versus the same period in 2014.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.

To check if your policy has been affected visit the company’s website here.

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