health Insuance - should I keep it or not ???

greengirl31

Hi All ...
I'm looking for a bit of advice of perhaps reassurance is a better word.
I'm 33 and have had health insurance for almost 10 years. The cover I have basically covers semi private care in Private hospitals and private in public hospitals. It also offers the usual cover for day to day expenses. This year, 2010, the subscription for me and my 3yr old daughter was €867.
Over all the years I've had this insurance I've had to claim very little ... I would get a bit back each year for GP visits and I benefited when I had my Daughter but apart from that there's been nothing.
This year though, like many others I've taken a substantial cut to my salary and I'm looking to cut costs and am considering cutting the health insurance. The way I'm looking at it is me and my Daughter are quite healthy and there be may only be 1 or 2 GP visits a year. These visits cost about €50 and I get back €30(i think) on each.
Now I know there's the argument that Insurance is for the "just in case" situation but Am I mad paying for health insurance when I don't really get a benefit. But on the other hand, our health service leaves an awful lot to be desired at the moment so maybe I should hang on to it ...
Has anyone any arguments for or against ...
Thanks
A

NuMarvel

The main bottleneck with the public health system at the moment seems to be seeing a consultant specialist and out-patient tests, so for those reasons, I personally keep my health insurance going.

However, like your car and home insurance, you should always shop around. The Health Insurance Authority website has a product comparison tool, so you can see what plans are similar to what you have. There are a vast number of plans out there, so it may take a bit of time, but it can be worth it. The website is www.hia.ie.

Also, each insurer has a range of corporate plans that are available to everyone (despite the names) and may be very similar to what you have, so give your current insurer a call to talk about those. (See this thread for more info.)

Finally, always check if your level of cover is relevant to your needs. If you only use the out-patient protion of your cover a few times, could you switch to a plan that doesn't have this to save money? If you're a PAYE worker you'll get 20% tax relief on medical costs like GPs anyway (unless that changes in the budget). With regard to your hospital cover, that's the type of cover that most people have, and it's the type I'd personally recommend as it gives a broad range of options at a relatively reasonable price. Private hospitals tend to have shorter waiting lists than public hospitals.

oldyouth

It will be one of the last things I could let go. Just my point of view. Health is happiness and, unfortunately, insurance bumps you up the queue

Kalimah

Ditch the day to day cover would be the way to go I think. Esp since you're both healthy. I have myself and hubby insured with Aviva and it costs 93 a month for the two of us. We are fully covered for a private room in a public hospital and 75% cover in a semi private room in a public hospital. We're also covered for certain cardiac procedures in the high tech hospitals. My hubby is in his early 50s so that's an important consideration. We downgraded our cover recently to that plan and it saved 50 euro a month.