The Health Insurance Authority ("the Authority") is a regulatory body for private health insurance in Ireland and was established under the Health Insurance Acts 1994-2007.

Its functions include:

• licensing private health insurers under the Health Insurance Acts,
• monitoring the health insurance market,
• advising the Minister for Health and Children,
• managing and administering any Risk Equalisation Scheme that may be established under the Health Insurance Acts,
• providing information and assistance to consumers of the private health insurance market.

Switching Health insurers: Irish law protects your right to switch health insurance providers without penalty.

You can switch health insurer without serving waiting periods if:

- your gap in cover is less than 13 weeks,
- there is no upgrade of cover,
- and you have served all your waiting period with your old insurer.

Please note that if you have not completed your waiting period with your old insurer, your new insurer must give you credit for the amount of the waiting period that you have served.

Insurer leaving the market
If your insurer leaves the market for any reason, it is obliged to continue covering you until your next renewal date and you will be able to switch to another insurer at any time without penalty, providing the conditions above are met.

Currently receiving treatment
If you switch health insurers to a policy with a similar level of cover, while being treated for an illness, your cover will not be affected.

Gaps in cover
If there is a gap in cover of more than 13 weeks then you may need to serve a waiting period as if you have never had insurance before – the maximum waiting periods are 26 weeks if you are under the age of 55 years, 52 weeks if you are aged 55 and under age 65 and 104 weeks if you are aged 65 or over. However, you will be covered in the event of an accident or injury that occurs while you wait for full cover.

Upgrade in cover
If you upgrade to a higher level of cover, you may have to serve a waiting period, but only in respect of the enhanced benefits. These are a maximum of 2 years if you are aged under 65 and 5 years if you are aged 65 or over.

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