The recession has already impacted on the Irish health insurance market, although the decline in the proportion of the population with health insurance has been relatively small so far, according to a survey by the Health Insurance Authority (HIA).
Published today, the survey confirms there has been an increase in the number of cancelled policies over the past few years, up from 9 per cent in 2005 and 13 per cent in 2007 to 15 per cent in 2009.
Key reasons given by those who cancelled their policies or let them lapse were the cost of insurance and loss of a job. Some 44 per cent of those who cancelled their policies cited cost of insurance as the reason while 19 per cent blamed the loss of a job. Loss of a job was not given as a reason for cancelling health insurance in previous surveys carried out by the HIA.
The recession is also impacting on consumers expectations in relation to their health insurance cover, with the number who plan to upgrade or maintain their level of cover over the next 12 months dropping from 89 per cent in 2007/2008 to 73 per cent in 2009 and the proportion of those who don't know increasing from 9 per cent to 22 per cent.
Overall three out of four people surveyed said they had been affected in some way by the economic downturn. Some 45 per cent said they or their family had taken pay cuts, 19 per cent said they had been affected by job losses and 17 per cent said their hours of work had been reduced.
The survey of over 1,000 adults was conducted by red C for the HIA last November and December. Some 300 employers were also surveyed and 86 per cent of them say they will maintain their health insurance scheme for employees.
Since the survey was completed new figures from the HIA have shown 16,000 people opted out of having health insurance during the first three months of this year.
The HIA's report says the VHI is the largest provider of health insurance in the State "but is steadily losing market share to its competitors". At the time of the survey Quinn had a 25 per cent market share and Aviva had 13 per cent of the market.
Some 16 per cent of people surveyed said they had switched their insurer at some stage, up from 10 per cent two years ago.
More than half of employers said they never considered switching provider.
Liam Sloyan, chief executive of the HIA, which is the independent regulator for the private health insurance market, said while affordability of cover was a key issue for consumers who allowed their policies lapse the majority could "save hundreds of euro without significantly reducing their cover" if they just shopped around.
There are, he said, around 200 health insurance products on the market which can be purchased by anyone and details of these are available on the HIA website at www.hia.ie or by telephoning the HIA on 1850 929 166.