Keeping Competition in Health Insurance "Solvent": A Discussion after Commission v Ireland

This article discusses the oscillations of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the private health insurance market. It is argued that, depending on the applicable rules, the borders between social and private insurance fluctuate and that this casuistic approach of the judiciary found its apogee in the cases of BUPA and Commission v Ireland, both concerning the regulatory dominance of a second pillar health insurer in Ireland. It will be argued that the intense contemporary quest for the imposition of the same solvency standards on both purely private insurance undertakings and private insurance undertakings contributing to social protection seems to constitute a new chapter in the judicial adjudication of State action in the field of health insurance.