The Voluntary Health Insurance Board ( ga, An Bord Árachais Sláinte Shaorálaigh) — which trades under the brand name Vhi Healthcare, and is still commonly referred to in Ireland as "The Vhi" – is the largest

health insurance Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among ma ...

company in Ireland. It is a

statutory corporation A statutory corporation is a government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, thus, they are statutes owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government to the (in ...

whose members are appointed by the

Minister for Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Count ...

. It is regulated by the

Health Insurance Authority The Health Insurance Authority ( ga, An tÚdarás Árachas Sláinte) is the regulatory body for private health insurance in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Authority's remit is to monitor and research health insurance generally; operate the risk ...

Products

Vhi Healthcare offers a number of health insurance products. It also has Dental and Travel insurance. Vhi Healthcare has over 1 million members. Until 14 December 2006, its main rival in the market was

BUPA Ireland Laya Healthcare is a health insurance company in Ireland. Its headquarters are in Little Island, County Cork. It is regulated by the Health Insurance Authority. History BUPA Ireland, then part of the wider BUPA group, entered the private medica ...

but since BUPA's withdrawal, Irish based

Laya Healthcare Laya Healthcare is a health insurance company in Ireland. Its headquarters are in Little Island, County Cork. It is regulated by the Health Insurance Authority. History BUPA Ireland, then part of the wider BUPA group, entered the private med ...

(formerly

Quinn Healthcare Laya Healthcare is a health insurance company in Ireland. Its headquarters are in Little Island, County Cork. It is regulated by the Health Insurance Authority. History BUPA Ireland, then part of the wider BUPA group, entered the private med ...

) and

Aviva Aviva plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 18 million customers across its core markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general ...

have emerged as Vhi's main competition. The current Healthcare business model is based on directly paying the consultant and hospital bills of its members. In February 2010 Vhi launched Vhi HomeCare a joint venture providing "Hospital in the Home" type services, it also provides minor injuries treatment centres through another partnership, Vhi Swiftcare.

History

The Voluntary Health Insurance Board was created in 1957 under the Voluntary Health Insurance Act, 1957 by the Minister for Health

Tom O'Higgins Thomas Francis O'Higgins (23 July 1916 – 25 February 2003) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, barrister and judge who served as Chief Justice of Ireland from 1974 to 1985, a Judge of the European Court of Justice from 1985 to 1991, a Judge of ...

. This law has been amended but remains the primary legislation under which Vhi Healthcare operates. The company held a monopoly in the health insurance market in Ireland until 1996, when

BUPA Bupa , legally British United Provident Association Limited, is an international health insurance and healthcare group with over 38 million customers worldwide. Bupa's origins and global headquarters are in the United Kingdom. Its main countrie ...

entered the market. The company re-branded from "VHI – Voluntary Health Insurance" to "Vhi Healthcare" in the early 2000s (decade), although the Board's legal name has never been altered. It is expected that the "statutory corporation" status of Vhi Healthcare will soon be changed to prepare it for more vigorous competition as it is often accused of being a virtual monopoly on private healthcare. While the

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of the company is not believed to be imminent, it was reported in the company's 2004 Annual Report that the Minister for Health would change the status of the board into a

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by ...

owned by the state. The Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2008, allows the Board to transfer its health insurance functions to a wholly owned subsidiary which will be a

private company limited by shares A private company limited by shares is a class of private limited company incorporated under the laws of England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, certain Commonwealth countries, and the Republic of Ireland. It has shareholders with limit ...

. However, it does not dissolve the Board itself, which will become a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

. It also requires the health insurance company to achieve the level of reserves that any other authorised insurer is required to have, something it was previously exempt from.

Proposed Privatisation

The Irish Government announced on 27 May 2010 that the company was to be privatised within the next three years. Spokespeople from the Department of Health stated that they did not expect premiums to increase or the loss of any jobs at the 800 strong company. The state expected to invest large sums of money to allow the company gain a solvency ratio in line with regulations and other insurance companies. This coincided with new health risk equalisation measures which were to be rolled out from 2012. The Irish government were looking toward retaining Ireland's history of

community rating Community rating is a concept usually associated with health insurance, which requires health insurance providers to offer health insurance policies within a given territory at the same price to all persons without medical underwriting, regardless ...

. This decision was, ostensibly, overturned by the

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

formed after the

2011 Irish General Election The 2011 Irish general election took place on Friday 25 February to elect 166 Teachtaí Dála across 43 constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of Ireland's parliament, the Oireachtas. The Dáil was dissolved and the general electi ...

. In their Programme for Government, the Coalition committed itself to retaining VHI Healthcare as a state-owned corporation, serving as a public option within a universal health insurance system and modelled on the Dutch healthcare system.

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Financial services companies established in 1957 State-sponsored bodies of the Republic of Ireland Health insurance companies of Ireland

Products

History

Proposed Privatisation

See also

References

External links