The Government Levy is a health insurance stamp duty which health insurers must pay to the Revenue for each health insurance plan sold. The Levy is paid into a central Risk Equalisation Fund and is redistributed by the Government to ensure we maintain a health insurance system where a person’s age or health does not affect the level of premium they pay.

A non-advanced plan is a plan which generally covers you for public hospital care only. A non-advanced plan must not provide more than 66% towards the cost of cover in private hospitals. These are sometimes referred to as Level 1 or Basic plans. You can see a list of our plans here.

An advanced plan is a plan which provides you with cover in both public and private hospitals. Members covered on an advanced plan will generally pay a higher premium than those on a non-advanced plan. You can see a list of our plans here.

Over the last 2 years, disruption to access to public and private hospitals for certain care and scheduled surgeries due to Covid-19 resulted in less ‘risk equalisation credits’ being paid out of the Risk Equalisation Fund. The fund now has a surplus and some of it is being distributed back to members through a reduction in the Levy charged on each plan.

The reduction will be applied to the majority of plans available from Irish Life Health on April 1st 2022, with the exception of the HealthGuide plans where it will be implemented on April 2nd 2022 for plans taken out or renewed on or after that date.

For advanced plans, the Levy will reduce by €43 for an adult and €15 for a child. For non-advanced plans, it will reduce by €35 for an adult and €11 for a child. This table shows you the changes that will take effect from 1st April 2022.

The levy reduction will be applied to annual gross premiums at renewal, before Tax Relief at Source (TRS) and discounts are applied. Depending on your plan, the Levy portion of your premium will reduce by €43/€35 for an adult and €15/€11 for a child for your policy year. There will also be changes in the other portion of your premium since you last renewed. This is due to price changes we made when taking into account the claims we see from our members, and a rise in the cost of hospital care. Your total renewal premium may be more or less than you paid last year for your cover.

When your renewal invitation is sent to you, you’ll see the reduced Levy in Section 1 - Who’s covered and what it costs.

From 1st April 2022, it will reduce from €449 to €406 for adults and from €150 to €135 for children on advanced plans, and from €157 to €122 for adults and from €52 to €41 for children on non-advanced plans. You will also be able to see your total renewal premium in this section.