The group has met six times since last November, a Department of Health spokesperson told the Medical Independent (MI). “The three health insurers are represented by senior managers from each company,” said the spokesperson. Risk equalisation is part of the system of community rating, which is a requirement in the Irish health insurance market that people should be charged the same premium, regardless of their risk profile. “Currently, the risk equalisation scheme pays credits to insurers based on age and gender, along with level of coverage and hospital utilisation. “The working group has reached broad consensus that the best method for developing a health status measure in the risk equalisation scheme is to use Diagnosis Related Groups data from hospital discharges.”Separately, a spokesperson for the HIA told MI that “the Department of Health is responsible for developing and gaining approval for the risk equalisation schemes.

Source: Irish Independent June 29, 2024 19:50 UTC