Policy-price increases from all of Ireland’s main health insurers have either just taken effect or are due in the coming weeks, underlining the pressure that rising claims and medical inflation are placing on the private health insurance market.
At the start of March, VHI’s prices rose by an average of 3%, while in April similar average hikes from Laya Healthcare, of 4.7%, and Irish Life Health, of 5.9%, will come into force. New entrant Level Health is also raising prices, saying the €48 increase on its main policies is directly due to the Government’s health insurance levy.
According to a report from RTÉ, insurers continue to point to the rising cost of care, particularly private hospital claims, together with general medical inflation, an ageing insured population and the impact of new drugs and medical technologies. However, the scale and frequency of increases is now raising questions among intermediaries and policyholders about sustainability, transparency and value for money.
For the past three to four years, premium rounds have followed a familiar pattern: price rises early in the year, just after peak renewal season, followed by another set of hikes in the autumn ahead of the main renewal window.
That cadence is now effectively embedded in the market, according to health insurance expert Dermot Goode of Healthinsuranceireland.ie, who expects more rate rises again in October. He predicts the next round of increases will “average out at between 3% and 5%”, adding that “right now it looks like there’s no end in sight”.
Recent Health Insurance Authority (HIA) figures showed how steadily prices are rising. In the third quarter of 2025, the average adult paid €1,886 for health insurance, up €56 on the previous quarter. Since then, providers have announced several additional rounds of increases, which has further increased annual costs.
Goode said general medical inflation “is running at between 8% and 10%, but the cumulative increases being faced by some customers is up to 15%”. He warned that “people on older plans need to review them because they could end up paying 25% more when they renew their policy”.
Headline averages, he added, can disguise sharper rises on individual products, with some long-standing, higher-cost plans going up by “considerably more than the average figures listed”.
As increases become more frequent and more material, pressure is mounting on insurers to provide more granular data on what is driving premium inflation. Citing Irish Life Health’s two increases this year, 5% from January and 5.9% for April, Goode said: “Any reasonable person will ask what changed in those three months … has something fundamentally changed in costs incurred,” adding that “customers deserve that information”.
Alongside premium hikes, there is an emerging pattern of benefit reductions and higher member cost sharing. Around 15 years ago there might have been a 20% shortfall on some treatments, but Goode said “this is common on pretty much every plan now in the market”.
With Laya Healthcare, “from April 30 odd plans with a 20% shortfall will see those shortfalls increase to 40% on knee replacements,” he said. A previous 20% shortfall “would have left policyholders on the hook for around €3,000 for some procedures, but with the changes they’ll now be on the hook for double that amount”.
According to analysis by Healthinsuranceireland.ie, Laya’s “Prosper Advanced” plan currently has full cover for hip, knee and shoulder replacements. From the beginning of April, the shortfall for customers renewing this plan will go from 0% to 40%. Goode said he “can’t remember a plan that ever went from 0% to 40% … that’s going to be a real shock”, warning that members risk finding themselves underinsured if they assume higher premiums mean unchanged benefits.
He stressed that Laya is not alone in “asking customers to pay more for less cover”, with other insurers increasing shortfalls on some procedures and removing access to certain private hospitals on specific products.
From the regulator’s standpoint, switching remains a key safety valve. The HIA notes that policyholders can move to any plan at renewal with no penalty and no loss of cover for existing conditions, and that newer plans can offer better value than older ones.
Despite sustained premium inflation, coverage is still edging upwards. Between July and September last year, more than 2.54 million people, nearly half the population, held a policy.
That resilience supports top-line growth, but it also highlights a growing tension. Continued price rises and higher shortfalls are likely to test affordability and could ultimately force a reassessment of how sustainable current coverage levels are in the Irish health insurance market.
