VHI subscribers must expect premium increases that outstrip ordinary inflation, the board's chief executive, Mr Brian Duncan, said yesterday.
Technology had ushered in an era of almost limitless opportunities to spend money on health care, Mr Duncan told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Affairs.
Between 1993 and 1995, VHI premiums had risen by about 20 per cent because medical inflation was much higher than ordinary inflation, he added. An aging and more health conscious population also helped to push up premiums, he said.
The VHI had no immediate plans to increase premiums. It would study the financial results, said Mr Duncan, when they became available later this month and decide then on the premium increase.
Mrs Maire Geoghegan Quinn (FF) and Dr Michael Woods (FF) said some VHI subscribers, especially older ones, were concerned that the public row between it and the independent hospitals might lead to a reduction in the cover they expected.
Mrs Geogeghan Quinn asked Mr Duncan if it was necessary to go through its "annual row" with the independent hospitals.
Mr Duncan regretted that the VHI had a "somewhat adversarial" relationship with those who provide health care to its members. However, he added, it was possible to have a marvellous relationship with everybody if cost was ignored.
Mr Duncan claimed that if the VHI conceded the claims of the independent hospitals premiums would rise immediately by 10 per cent.
