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Health insurance/life insurance hiatus

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  • 13-10-2009 1:35pm
    #1
    SevenTractors
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5 ✭


    I currently am paying VHI for two adults and two children, life insurance on a separate policy, mortgage protection insurance with an element of critical illness and the payments are very high. Between these insurances it is costing me over 400 a month. I can't afford it at the moment. I have checked around between VHI and the competitors but the difference isn't that much. I was thinking about stopping VHI for a while and the life insurance, and changing the mortgage protection to a cheaper one. But does anyone know if I stop VHI for a year or two is it a big deal to sign up again once I can afford it? I know there will be a waiting period.


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    #2
    jeckle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 652 ✭✭✭jeckle


    SevenTractors wrote: »
    But does anyone know if I stop VHI for a year or two is it a big deal to sign up again once I can afford it? I know there will be a waiting period.
    No, they will have no problem with that whatsoever.


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    #3
    Toots
    Administrators, Business & Finance Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 16,920 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Toots


    SevenTractors wrote: »
    I currently am paying VHI for two adults and two children, life insurance on a separate policy, mortgage protection insurance with an element of critical illness and the payments are very high. Between these insurances it is costing me over 400 a month. I can't afford it at the moment. I have checked around between VHI and the competitors but the difference isn't that much. I was thinking about stopping VHI for a while and the life insurance, and changing the mortgage protection to a cheaper one. But does anyone know if I stop VHI for a year or two is it a big deal to sign up again once I can afford it? I know there will be a waiting period.

    The only thing about rejoining VHI after a couple of years with no health cover is that there may be an exclusion period for new policies where you can't claim for a certain amount of time. Would it be worth considering downgrading your level of cover to a cheaper plan for a while? Also, from what I've heard, it's basically pointless having children on your VHI provided they're still young enough to attend children's hospitals. They're entitled to free hospital care, and there are also no private children's hospitals, so it's not going to be a case of needing the VHI so you can have them treated in a private hospital.


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    #4
    broker2008
    Registered Users Posts: 750 ✭✭✭broker2008


    SevenTractors wrote: »
    I currently am paying VHI for two adults and two children, life insurance on a separate policy, mortgage protection insurance with an element of critical illness and the payments are very high. Between these insurances it is costing me over 400 a month. I can't afford it at the moment. I have checked around between VHI and the competitors but the difference isn't that much. I was thinking about stopping VHI for a while and the life insurance, and changing the mortgage protection to a cheaper one. But does anyone know if I stop VHI for a year or two is it a big deal to sign up again once I can afford it? I know there will be a waiting period.

    You will need a basic mortgage protection to assign to the bank so you could get rid of the critical illness portion or reduce the level of cover. This will bring the premium down. You can lapse your health insurance for up to 13 weeks and not have to reserve waiting periods.

    See page 3 of http://www.hia.ie/sec4_consumer_information/Selecting_a_PHI_product_Sept09.pdf

    You could also reduce the cover that you are on by going down to say plan A and cover for about €1,500 or reduce cover further with Quinn or keep cover for adults and leave out kids till you get back on your feet.


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