Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2012

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Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act.

3.— Section 2 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) in the definition of “community rating”, by deleting “specified in section 1A(1)”,

(ii) by substituting the following definition for the definition of “net premium”:

“ ‘net premium’—

(a) in relation to a health insurance contract effected for a period other than a period commencing on or after 1 January 2013, means the premium payable under the contract in respect of an individual in any year of assessment after—

(i) the deduction made from the premium to which the individual is entitled, for that year of assessment, by virtue of section 470 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 , and

(ii) the deduction (if any) made from the premium to which the individual is entitled, for that year of assessment, by virtue of section 470B of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 ,

(b) in relation to a health insurance contract effected for a period commencing on or after 1 January 2013, means the premium payable under the contract in respect of an individual in any year of assessment after—

(i) the deduction made from the premium to which the individual is entitled, for that year of assessment, by virtue of section 470 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 , and

(ii) taking into account the part (if any) of the premium which the individual is entitled not to have collected from the policy holder concerned, for that year of assessment, by virtue of section 11C(1);”,

(iii) by deleting the definitions of “risk equalisation” and “scheme”, and

(iv) by inserting the following definitions:

“ ‘authorised officer’ means a person appointed under section 18E to be an authorised officer;

‘frequency of provision of health services’ includes history of health insurance claims;

‘health risk status’, in relation to any person (howsoever described), includes—

(a) the present use of, or likely future use of, hospital services by the person,

(b) the sexual orientation of the person, and

(c) the suffering or prospective suffering of the person from a chronic illness or other medical condition or from an illness or medical condition of a particular kind;

‘principal objective’ means the principal objective specified in section 1A(1);

‘risk equalisation credits’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 6A(1);

‘Risk Equalisation Scheme’ shall be construed in accordance with section 11A;”,

and

(b) by adding the following subsection after subsection (2):

“(3) In this Act a reference to—

(a) a disease includes a reference to an illness, and

(b) an illness includes a reference to a disease.”.