THE medical director of the Voluntary Health Insurance board has acknowledged that subscribers will face a further increase in premiums in the coming months.
Dr Bernadette Carr said yesterday that the decision by the Minister for Health Mr Noonan to raise the cost of private accommodation in public hospitals by 9 per cent from January 1st, would have "inevitable consequences" for the VHI.
Dr Carr added, however, that it could not be "extrapolated" that the increase in premiums will be around 9 per cent. Our policy is to keep premiums at a minimum, she said.
The Department of Health said the increase was not exorbitant and was in line with inflation.
VHI premiums were increased by 6 per cent last August, affecting the company's 1.3 million subscribers. The increase was widely condemned at the time for being three times the rate of inflation but the VHI defended it on the grounds of high medical inflation".
Yesterday members of the Independent Hospital Association of Ireland (IHAI) announced a 4 per cent increase in charges to patients, including VHI members, from February 1st. "We last received a price increase from the VHI in January 1995, the IHAI chief executive, Mr Michael Heavey, said.
"Unfortunately," he added, "the VHI has failed to conclude an agreement with our members and therefore, patients who are VHI members will again face a diminution in their insurance cover.
An IHAI spokesman said Mr Heavey had written to the VHI chairman, Mr Noel Hanlon, about this issue but had received neither a response nor an acknowledgment". Dr Carr said she had no knowledge of such correspondence.
Mr Heavey said members of BUPA, the British healthcare insurer which now competes with the VHI in the Republic, will be unaffected by the private hospitals' price rises, as the rates agreed with BUPA reflect the full 1996 costs and anticipated cost increases for next year.
BUPA said it is now receiving about 2,000 calls a day and has sent out 30,000 quotations to prospective members, many of them VHI customers.
"We have signed agreements with 73 hospitals," the spokesman added. "All our customers are covered and will face no balance billing."