Health insurer VHI almost doubled its profits last year after it raised premiums twice. The State-owned group reported a surplus after tax of €71.2 million for 2025. That was up from €36.3 million in 2024 and from a net deficit of €43 million in 2023.
The company raised its prices by an average of 3 per cent in March last year before a subsequent hike in October that added another 3 per cent to premiums. It has recently implemented another average increase of 3 per cent across its plans last month.
Premiums have been rising across the industry.
VHI said customer numbers rose by around 12,000 to more than 1.23 million – the eleventh consecutive year that it has seen numbers increase.
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The insurer said it generated €1.97 billion in gross earned premiums during 2025, an increase of €135 million on the previous year.
The figures provided by VHI show it paid out €1.84 billion to cover healthcare costs on behalf of members, up almost 6 per cent from €1.74 billion the year before.
VHI’s gross written premium – the total value of its written premiums – climbed from just under €1.9 billion to just over €2 billion.
Income from VHI’s multiline portfolio of international health, travel, dental and life insurance, increased 7 per cent from €31 million to €33 million.
VHI said its performance was driven by a “stable operational performance” combined with “continued increases in demand” for healthcare, and in “the cost of delivering that care”.
It said all of the surplus generated would be “reinvested to strengthen member services and support the delivery of better healthcare”.
Capital and reserves increased from €953 million to €1 billion at year-end, and the solvency capital ratio for the insurance business stood at 182 per cent, underscoring a “strong and prudent capital position”, the group said.
The largest categories of claims paid on behalf of its members were €366 million for cancer care, €315 million for orthopaedic care, and €292 million for cardiac care.
The group said it delivered more than 603,000 healthcare “interactions”, which was up from 510,000 the previous year.
VHI chief executive Brian Walsh said healthcare demand in Ireland will “continue to rise”, driven by demographic change and chronic disease.
“VHI exists solely for the benefit of members, and our capital position enables us to plan for member needs and deliver access and better healthcare for our members,” he said. “We are focusing on prevention, early intervention, digital access and community based services so we can continue to meet our members’ healthcare needs for generations to come.
“Our vision is to be a health partner for our members and to play an active role in shaping the future of patient-centred healthcare in Ireland, working collaboratively with partners across the system to support long term sustainability.”
