LEGISLATION PROVIDING for the introduction of a new risk-equalisation scheme in the health insurance market will not come into effect until 2013, Government sources have said.
Separate legislation on transitional arrangements would be finalised between the middle and the end of this year and would come into effect from next January, sources said last night.
Minister of State for Health John Moloney said at the weekend that new legislation governing risk-equalisation would be ready in two to three months, whichever parties were in government.
He called on the VHI to delay the substantial price increases, announced last week, for a few months until the legislation was ready.
However Government sources yesterday indicated that it was looking at a longer timeframe for the new legislation.
Risk equalisation is a system whereby companies with larger numbers of older subscribers receive financial payments, via the industry regulator, from rivals with a younger membership profile.
The Government has argued that a risk-equalisation scheme is essential to underpin the concept of community rating in the private health insurance market.
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