Health Insurance (Amendment) Act 2016

Amendment of section 7F of Principal Act

4. Section 7F of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (4):

“(4A) (a) The Authority shall take what would constitute a reasonable profit for a registered undertaking in respect of its relevant health insurance business in the State, in respect of the 3 year period from 1 January 2016 to the end of 2018, as being a return on sales, gross of reinsurance and excluding investment income, that does not exceed 4.4 per cent per annum in respect of that business for that 3 year period taken as a whole and as calculated using approved accounting standards and having regard to the European Union framework for State aid in the form of public service compensation (2011) (2012/C8/03).

(b) Paragraph (a) shall, with all necessary modifications, apply to each applicable 3 year period as it applies to the 3 year period referred to in that paragraph.”,

(b) in subsection (5)(b) —

(i) in subparagraph (ii), by the substitution of “of 2013,” for “of 2013, or”, and

(ii) by the insertion of the following subparagraphs after subparagraph (iii):

“(iv) if paragraph (a) of subsection (4A) is applicable, the period from 1 January 2016 to the end of 2018, or

(v) if paragraph (b) of subsection (4A) is applicable, the period from 1 January of the first year of the applicable 3 year period to the end of the last year of the applicable 3 year period,”,

and

(c) in subsection (14) —

(i) by the insertion of the following definition:

“ ‘applicable 3 year period’ means—

(a) the 3 year period from 1 January 2017 to the end of 2019, and

(b) the 3 year period from 1 January 2018 to the end of 2020,

and so on for each succeeding 3 year period;”,

(ii) by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “reasonable profit”:

“ ‘reasonable profit’—

(a) shall be construed in accordance with subsection (4) in respect of a 3 year period referred to in paragraph (b) of that subsection and in respect of a relevant 3 year period, and

(b) shall be construed in accordance with subsection (4A) in respect of a 3 year period referred to in paragraph (a) of that subsection and in respect of an applicable 3 year period;”,

and

(iii) by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “relevant 3 year period”:

“ ‘relevant 3 year period’ means the following:

(a) the period from 1 January 2012 to the end of 2014;

(b) the period from 1 January 2013 to the end of 2015.”.