Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2008

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Amendment of section 2 of Act of 1996.

6.— Section 2 of the Act of 1996 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1), by the deletion of “, with the consent of the Minister,” and the deletion of “, with the like consent,”,

(b) in subsection (2), by the deletion of “, with the consent of the Minister,”,

(c) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (5):

“(5) Subject to subsection (5A), the Board shall conduct its business at all times in a cost effective and efficient manner and shall, for that purpose, fix the amount of subscriptions, premiums or other charges payable by or in respect of beneficiaries under schemes under this section so that the revenue therefrom together with other revenues (if any) of the Board, including monies raised or borrowed by the Board, are sufficient taking one year with another to—

(a) meet all charges and costs which are properly chargeable to its income and expenditure account,

(b) acquire—

(i) subject to subparagraph (ii), before 31 December 2008,

(ii) before such later date as the Minister may by order appoint if, and only if, he or she is satisfied that there is good and sufficient reason for so doing,

a fund greater than the minimum guarantee fund that it is required to possess pursuant to Regulation 13(1)(b) of the European Communities (Non-Life Insurance) Framework Regulations 1994 ( S.I. No. 359 of 1994 ) to enable it to make an application for the grant to the relevant subsidiary (within the meaning of section 1 of the Act of 2008) of an authorisation (within the meaning of those Regulations) to carry on the business of non-life insurance, and

(c) discharge the financial liabilities of the Board (including the repayment of borrowings and interest thereon) arising from the performance of any functions of the Board to raise or borrow money.”,

(d) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (5):

“(5A) For the purposes of acquiring the fund referred to in subsection (5)(b), the Board may do one or more of the following:

(a) accrue a capital reserve;

(b) secure subordinated loans;

(c) re-insure part of its health insurance business;

(d) raise or borrow money in accordance with section 19 of the Act of 2008;

(e) seek the provision of capital by the State in return for shares in a subsidiary formed and established or acquired pursuant to the Act of 2008;

(f) seek the provision of capital by such other means as may be approved by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance.”,

and

(e) in subsection (7), by the insertion of the following definition:

“ ‘Act of 2008’ means the Voluntary Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2008;”.