Older people in Ireland could soon see their cost of their health insurance premiums triple, according to Age Action.

The insurance provider is now calling for urgent measures to protect the principle of community rating in health insurance.

This follows reports featured in a Sunday newspaper suggesting that health care insurer Vhi had found that should community rating be abandoned as a result of Supreme Court ruling earlier in the summer, the over 60s may see a triple price rise.

The July ruling declared illegal, the system of risk equalisation under which health insurers with a higher number of older customers receive subsidies from newer insurers to compensate them for the added risk they encounter in taking a larger share of customers who make more claims.

The Court heard that without risk equalisation, insurers with a large percentage of older customers would have to charge them more than younger customers. However, this would breach the state policy of community rating.

In reality, risk equalisation was to result in payments to Vhi from newer entrants to the market, such as BUPA, however, it challenged the system all the way to the Supreme Court.

Vhi says that it was engaged in ongoing talks with the Department of Health about the implications of the ruling and would not reveal details of meeting.