The number of people taking out private health insurance is continuing to drop, latest figures show.

Arounf 250,000 people have now dropped their health insurance in the past five years.

Health Insurance Authority (HIA) statistics show there were 2.047 million people insured with plans that covered in-patient treatment at the end of September.

This marks a reduction of 62,000 insured people over the same period last year and 11,000 over the quarter.

In 2008, the market peaked at almost 2.3 million people insured.