Finance (No. 2) Act 2013

Amendment of section 470 of Principal Act (relief for insurance against expense of illness)

8. (1) Section 470 of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (1)—

(a) by inserting the following definition:

“ ‘child’ means an individual under the age of 18 years or, if over the age of 18 years and under the age of 23 years, who is receiving full-time education and in respect of whom the payment under a relevant contract has been reduced in accordance with paragraph (a)(ii) or (b)(i) of section 7 (5) of the Health Insurance Act 1994 ;”,

(b) by substituting the following for the definition of “relevant contract”:

“ ‘relevant contract’ means a contract of insurance which provides specifically, whether in conjunction with other benefits or not, for the reimbursement or discharge, in whole or in part, of—

(a) actual health expenses (within the meaning of section 469), being a contract of medical insurance, or

(b) dental expenses other than expenses in respect of routine dental treatment (within the meaning of section 469), being a contract of dental insurance;”,

and

(c) by substituting the following for the definition of “relievable amount”:

“ ‘relievable amount’, in relation to a payment to an authorised insurer under a relevant contract, means—

(a) where the payment covers no benefits other than such reimbursement or discharge as is referred to in the definition of ‘relevant contract’, an amount equal to the full amount of the payment reduced by the amount of credit due (if any) under section 470B(4) and credit due (if any) under a risk equalisation scheme (within the meaning of the Health Insurance Act 1994 ), or

(b) where the payment covers benefits other than such reimbursement or discharge as is referred to in that definition, an amount equal to so much of the payment as is referable to such reimbursement or discharge reduced by the amount of credit due (if any) under section 470B(4) and credit due (if any) under a risk equalisation scheme (within the meaning of the Health Insurance Act 1994 ),

provided that in respect of a relevant contract renewed or entered into on or after 16 October 2013 the relievable amount in respect of any payment made under a relevant contract, in respect of any 12 month period covered by that contract, shall not exceed the aggregate of—

(i) the lesser of the relievable amount attributable to each individual, other than a child, to whom the relevant contract relates, or €1,000 in respect of each individual, and

(ii) the lesser of the relievable amount attributable to each child to whom the relevant contract relates, or €500 in respect of each child,

and where the contract is for a period of less than 12 months or being for a period of 12 months is terminated before the end of that period, the relievable amount shall be reduced proportionately.”.

(2) This section shall apply in respect of relevant contracts (within the meaning of section 470 of the Principal Act) entered into or renewed on or after 16 October 2013.