HARNEY SAYS SHE STILL BACKS RISK EQUALISATION

Irish health minister Mary Harney yesterday responded to accusations in the Irish parliament that she had capitulated to excessive lobbying by health insurer Bupa when deciding not to introduce risk equalisation in the country’s health insurance market by stating that she remained in favour of risk equalisation. “We cannot have community rating without it. It is not a question of whether we will do it, but when”, she told the Dail. Ms Harney also revealed that she hoped to bring a memorandum to the government in September with a view to moving towards the full commercialisation of state-owned insurer VHI. If risk equalisation had been introduced this year it would have cost Bupa Ireland an estimated 30m euro, which would have been transferred to VHI to compensate for its older and less profitable customers.