Which Healthcare Insurance for a housebuyer??

Fozzie Bear

Hi all

Could you give me your opinions please. Myself and the missus are saving to buy a house towards the end of the year. As a result we are cutting back on our spending. I have gotten rid of my nice car and canceled the gym membership etc.

I'm looking at my healthcare insurance and wondering do I need it? I am currently with the VHI paying E717.00 for plan B options. I looked at Hibernian but there much the same so I'm thinking of just canceling my insurance altogether. I'm a 31 year old healthy male. Never spent a day in hospital and never really been seriously sick. Would it be worth canceling my insurance for a year? Or should I get a cheaper health plan with VHI or someone else? I have been with the VHI for 5 or 6 years now.

Has anyone else been in a similar position? Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

A.Partridge

Go for a cheaper plan with the VHI.

Whatever you do don't cancel your insurance as sod's law will have it that something will go wrong just after you do.

Anyway 31 is not that young.:p

IsThatSo?

For some benefits you have to be a member for a while before they will cover. Maternity is one of these but that wouldn't be an issue for you :P If you cancelled you would have to start from scratch again.

Also, if you did happen to get ill while the policy was cancelled it would be considered a preexisting condition when you went to join up again and may not be covered.

For the sake of a year I wouldn't bother, but do see if you can get a cheaper plan, you can always upgrade later

Ogham

I think health insurance is a big con and I refuse to take it out. (We are not on a Medical Card). It might help you to get seen a bit faster in some cases - but not all. Ok you might get a bed in a room instead of a ward - if one is available. Everyone in this country seems to be taken in by the health insurance companies (aided by the government) who make millions out of it.
Everyone seems to think you will get massive bills if you don't get insurance. The maximum any person will pay in any one year for hospitalisation is €660 euro currently (66 a night capped at 10 nights max charge a year) So even if you were in hospital for 3 months - 660 is the max you would pay. All treatment / scans / operations / follow up is free.
OK - you might get a few other little other extras off the health insurance - towards dental or physio but not the full amounts.
I would cancel it and never bother with it again.
Rant over

Fozzie Bear

Thanks for the replies and screw you! 31 is not old! Are you trying to start me early on my midlife crisis?

broker2008

Fozzie Bear wrote: »

Hi all

I'm looking at my healthcare insurance and wondering do I need it? I am currently with the VHI paying E717.00 for plan B options. I looked at Hibernian but there much the same so I'm thinking of just canceling my insurance altogether. I'm a 31 year old healthy male. Never spent a day in hospital and never really been seriously sick. Would it be worth canceling my insurance for a year? Or should I get a cheaper health plan with VHI or someone else? I have been with the VHI for 5 or 6 years now.
.

Think you got your figures mixed up. VHI are €900 for B Options and Hibernian Aviva are €717 for Level 2. If your cover lapses for more than 13 weeks, you will have to serve waiting periods again.

gaeilgegrinds

I never ever thought about not having health insurance. The difference upon going into hospital and waiting times is unreal. Wondering who is the cheapest. Am with VHI and is crippling.

Ogham

gaeilgegrinds wrote: »

I never ever thought about not having health insurance. The difference upon going into hospital and waiting times is unreal. Wondering who is the cheapest. Am with VHI and is crippling.

Have you experienced "unreal" waiting times without health insurance - or are you going by what other people tell you? (Or health insurance sales people )
There are some who say that sometimes Public patients get seen quicker!

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2006/07/30/story16048.asp

Angus MacGyver

You can always drop down to a lower level of cover like plan A or first plan. you would save a couple of hundred. Think of it as moving from fully comp car insurance to 3rd party

If you cancel your insurance completely and decide to take it back out in a couple of years you will have to serve all waiting periods again, thats 6 month initial wp and 5 years for pre existing illness,

Whereas if you drop to a lower level of cover and move back up in a couple of years you will only have a waiting period on the higher level of cover for pre existing condition (any illness which you have got since dropping down to lower level of cover) which is about 2 years as far as i can remember.

The policy you are on is mainly a hospital inpatient policy with nearly no outpatient cover. there are other policies like first plan where you can claim back on the likes of doctor exps with a €1 xs so even if you only go to the doctor twice a year you will get money back saving you a little more

Personally i wouldnt cancel

gaeilgegrinds

'Unreal,' waiting times based on myself and a colleague. Had the same procedure done a few weeks apart but she was waiting ages before me and was seen as a more urgent case.