Private health cover booming

THE number of people with private health insurance grew by 36,000 in 2020 and now stands at more than 2.3million people – the highest it has been since the height of the boom in 2008.

Experts had expected the pandemic uncertainty over jobs would have pushed the figure down. But it had the opposite effect as evidence suggests people are ‘doing everything possible to remain insured due to the well-publicised pressures in the public system’.

Waiting lists are at an all-time high, which means private cover is the only real alternative for those looking for speedy access to routine medical treatment and diagnostics, customers said.

Health insurance expert Dermot Goode, of Totalhealthcover.ie, said: ‘What’s really telling about these figures is that the market grew during the worst of the pandemic – with overall membership numbers increasing by 36,000 between December 2019 and December 2020.

‘Our expectation was that the market would contract somewhat due to uncertainty over jobs and incomes in some industry sectors, but the market has bucked this trend and continues to perform well.

‘We won’t have final figures for quarter one 2021 until later in the year but early indications are that the market will continue to grow incrementally. From speaking with consumers who are contemplating signing up to health insurance, people seem increasingly concerned that waiting lists across the public hospitals are likely to grow further as a result of the pandemic; hence their decision to apply for private health insurance.’

The health insurance market peaked at 2.3million members in December 2008 but the recession saw membership fall by 300,000 by December 2014.

Another driver of this growth is that industries such as IT, pharma, and medical devices are performing well and recruiting and typically provide company-paid healthcare for staff.