Health insurance company CZ is the first of the big four insurers to publish its health premiums for 2018 – announcing a rise of some €40 a year for the standard policy.

This is around half the rise forecast by the government in the 2018 budget. The increase will take the cost of the basic CZ policy to €116.25 a month – or €1,395 a year, a 3% rise on 2017.

CZ said it is dipping into its reserves to keep the premium rise to a minimum, but warned that once the reserves have been reduced to their legally lowest level ‘premiums will rise sharply’.

Earlier this week, Ohra said it is increasing its price for the basic package by €3.40 a month to €107.95, citing increasing demand and wage costs as reasons for the increase.

Reserves

Delta Lloyd is also increasing the price of its basic free-choice policy by 3.24% to €119.58. However Zorg en Zekerheid is cutting its policy price by €1 a month, using its reserves to pay for the cut.

Both Delta Lloyd and Ohra also said they had dipped into their reserves to keep premium prices low.

Insurance companies have until Sunday to publish their fees for next year, ahead of the six week period during which people can switch policies.

The make-up of the basic health insurance policy is determined by the government, and insurers compete on price and freedom of choice.