Yesterday, it was revealed that about 1,000 people are opting out of private health insurance plans because of higher expenses. The revelation was made by the Health Insurance Authority.

According to the data revealed by the Health Insurance Authority, about 12,000 people have opted out of private health insurance plan from July to September. The proposed budget for 2012 has further forced people in tight position as it proposes surging the private health insurance by 50%.

The proposed budget clearly indicates that a family of four would have to pay an annual premium of _4,000. However, the previous premium was just _1,400. Since 2008, the health authorities have been imposing a number of cuts as the budget was shelved by _543m.

The global recession is said to be the main cause behind people opting out of health insurance plans. As compared to the number of people opting for private health insurance plan for the year 2009, there has been a fall from 51% to 47%.

In Ireland, it seems like the scenario will stay a little longer. Unless the Government stops imposing higher charges, people will continue to opt out of health insurance plans. The figures revealed by the Health Insurance Authority shows that at the end of September 2011, there were about 2,174,000 people insured with inpatient health insurance plans, which clearly shows a drop of 53,000 in the first nine months of the year.

About 14,000 people opted out of insurance plans in the first three months of the year. However, from April to June, about 29,000 people abandoned their health policies. There is an urgent need to understand the requirements of people regarding their desired health plans so that they don't opt out of it.