Ireland’s health insurance wars

Minister Mary Harney last month gave the green light to a request from Ireland’s semi-state private health provider VHI Healthcare, that it be subsidized through payments from its competitors. VHI provides health care to around 80 percent of the private subscribers in the state.
BUPA, a British company that provides health cover to 440,000 Irish people, has said it will be forced to withdraw from Ireland if the controversial plan goes ahead. Harney’s decision will be scrutinized in the High Court next month.
Harney has justified the decision on the basis that VHI’s patients are older and more likely to access their health cover. BUPA estimates that it will be forced to pay more than