Glossary

Community rating is a system that means that health insurance companies must charge the same rate for a given level of cover regardless of factors like age, gender, health risk status or the provision of health services in the past. This is a key difference in comparison to other types of insurance such as car insurance, where the amount you pay is based on the assessed risk of the consumer. However, there are some exceptions:

• If you buy health insurance for the first time when you are aged 35 or over, or if you have a break in health insurance cover of longer than 13 weeks while you are aged 35 or over, you will have to pay an additional Lifetime Community Rating loading on top of the cost of your policy.
• The cost of a policy may be reduced by up to 10% for members of group schemes.
• The cost of a policy for children must be no more than 50% of the adult premium.
• The cost of a policy for those aged 18-25 may be reduced.
• The cost of a policy for pensioners who are members of restricted membership insurers may be reduced.

Lifetime Community rating is a system where you have to pay more for your health insurance policy if you buy health insurance for the first time when you are aged 35 or above. This additional amount is called a loading. The loadings start at 2% of the gross cost of your policy from age 35 onwards, up to a maximum of 70% of the gross cost of your policy for age 69 or above. Lifetime Community Rating loadings were introduced in 2015 to encourage people to join the health insurance market at a younger age. For more information, go to Lifetime Community Rating.