Proposals to abolish tax relief on health insurance

QUOTE="odyssey06, post: 1512449, member: 88101"] SNIP SNIP Do you mean that insurers are being gouged? Or that insurers are doing the gouging? SNIP SNIP QUOTE

A bit of both !

Primarily, I think that the health insurers are on the receiving end of the gouging thanks to the way they are being treated by government. The possibility for that to get worse is real. The health insurers then gouge the customers vicariously by passing it all on. Also, I do wonder about the pricing structures of some of the private hospitals, especially the high-tec outfits, as there is where I would see some of the medical inflation being generated and pushed on to the insurers. What are they supposed to do ? Raise their prices yet again ?

In economic terms, how elastic or inelastic a product is health insurance in Ireland ? I thought that it was heading towards being price elastic on the basis of the numbers signing up being on the increase. A few more increased rates for public hospital stays, increased levies and possible tax relief reduction could very well see the product becoming very inelastic quite rapidly.

Ultimately, one wonders where it will all end. If the market became so unattractive to the demand side would you collapse health insurers or see them leave the Irish market ? In that event I think that some private hospitals might have to become hotels.....[/QUOTE]
 
There is also tax relief on nursing home fees claimed at highest rate.

I suppose the people that object to private medical insurance creating "their own waiting lists" also object to such tax relief, because the nursing home residents are creating "their own nursing homes" - to be consistent???
 
odyssey06 said:
And what happens at 33-35 if you decide you need it but if everyone a few years older than you has packed in private health insurance?
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Fine. Ireland can afford pretty good healthcare. If we're all in the same boat, our interests are better aligned.

odyssey06 said:
I think for a cohort we'd need a group of people who over the course of their income and tax lives are net contributors to tha public purse but do not - at any point - take out private health insurance. And I don't see that cohort as existing in any appreciable numbers.
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You're probably right. Our community rating system has historically made PHI ridiculously good value for older consumers.
 
odyssey06 said:
There is also tax relief on nursing home fees claimed at highest rate.

I suppose the people that object to private medical insurance creating "their own waiting lists" also object to such tax relief, because the nursing home residents are creating "their own nursing homes" - to be consistent???
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Personally I dont have an issue with tax relief on medical expenses or nursing home fees because these are expenses that a person might have to make due to a medical or age related condition,
but a PHI is not a medical expense but an insurance policy that is designed to give the policy holder peace of mind when it comes to their future medical needs.
 
Cervelo said:
Personally I dont have an issue with tax relief on medical expenses or nursing home fees because these are expenses that a person might have to make due to a medical or age related condition,
but a PHI is not a medical expense but an insurance policy that is designed to give the policy holder peace of mind when it comes to their future medical needs.
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I have to say, I'm not convinced by what appears to be an arbitrary distinction between the actual expense, and an insurance policy which covers some of those expenses? If I pay the full expense, I can claim tax relief at 20%. But I can't claim tax relief on a policy which reduces the amount of the expense?
I don't see any real distinction there.
 
The distinction for me is PHI is not a essential cost but rather a non-esssential cost, people take out PHI because they want a better medical service then provided by the state
 
Cervelo said:
The distinction for me is PHI is not a essential cost but rather a non-esssential cost, people take out PHI because they want a better medical service then provided by the state
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If I don't have insurance and I pay from my pocket for a scan, or a consultant, or elective surgery, rather than wait on the public waiting list, I am paying for a better medical service than that provided by the state.
All of these are currently eligible under MED1 relief.
So presumably you would wish to disallow such expenses from medical relief?
 
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