Kilkenny VHI members are to be landed with a 15 per cent hike n their private health insurance bill from February this year.
The hike was announced yesterday and will affect 60 per cent of the VHI's 1.35m customers.
It’s understood that the hike will mean The average family premium is set to rise by around €331.
The company has says the increases are as a result of an expected 10 per cent rise in claims this year and a 21 per cent increase in the cost of private beds in public hospitals .
The company estimates that this will cost it €60m this year and accounts for 8 per cent of the 15 per cent increase. A further increase in the cost of private beds is planned for next year.
VHI chief executive Jimmy Tolan said the decision to increase prices was 'incredibly difficult' and not made lightly.
He said the reality was the company was operating in a broken regulatory model which needs to be fixed.
The VHI lost about 48,000 customers in the last year. The last time the company increased its prices was this time last year.
The VHI claims that it has taken many steps in the last year to contain rising costs of health insurance, including cutting consultant and private hospital fees and a €15m reduction in annual administration costs.
The VHI has also called for changes to the levy system which replaced risk equalisation in 2009.
Mr Tolan has described the levy system as ineffective. He said changes need to be made to the tax credit system which provides tax relief on the cost of insuring older customers.
