Private Health Insurance in Ireland

tonydub99

Hi Guys...My girlfriend is planning relocation to Ireland in the early part of 2013 and although we have done all the groundwork re visas etc I was wondering if anybody has any good advice on private health cover for her.
Can anyone recommend sites or Healthcare providers that will give us the answers.

She will be retired in 2013 (shes 55) and is looking for a healthcare plan that is fairly comprehensive but we also understand there is a considerable cost implication. Can she continue with cover from US for a period or does she need immediate cover once she arrives here ?? Its all a mystery to us at the moment lol ....HELP ????

silja

*** Moved from the USA forum, as question is about health insurance for an immigrant TO Ireland, so hopefully the boardsies here can give good advice. ***

Heisenberg1

tonydub99 wrote: »

Hi Guys...My girlfriend is planning relocation to Ireland in the early part of 2013 and although we have done all the groundwork re visas etc I was wondering if anybody has any good advice on private health cover for her.
Can anyone recommend sites or Healthcare providers that will give us the answers.

She will be retired in 2013 (shes 55) and is looking for a healthcare plan that is fairly comprehensive but we also understand there is a considerable cost implication. Can she continue with cover from US for a period or does she need immediate cover once she arrives here ?? Its all a mystery to us at the moment lol ....HELP ????

You can you use the following site http://www.hia.ie/ to compare all plans from all the private health insurance providers in ireland.

I'm not sure if you can carry your US healthcare policy over to here hope this helps.

tonydub99

Thanks Luzon that is very helpful I will pass the info on to her .

Kungfu

Generally health insurers here only cover you when abroad for short periods, such as working abroad short term or on holiday. Your girlfriend needs to contact her American insurers to ask them if they will continue to cover her and for how long. She should make sure to make it clear that she intends to retire to this country to live.

ravima

her US insurer may have some agreement/link with an irish provider and she migth be able to join immediately.

Otherwise, we have three providers here - VHI, Aviva & Quinn.

As far as I know, all will have waiting periods once you join. Look at the websites for further details.

tonydub99

tonydub99 wrote: »

Hi Guys...My girlfriend is planning relocation to Ireland in the early part of 2013 and although we have done all the groundwork re visas etc I was wondering if anybody has any good advice on private health cover for her.
Can anyone recommend sites or Healthcare providers that will give us the answers.

She will be retired in 2013 (shes 55) and is looking for a healthcare plan that is fairly comprehensive but we also understand there is a considerable cost implication. Can she continue with cover from US for a period or does she need immediate cover once she arrives here ?? Its all a mystery to us at the moment lol ....HELP ????

I'm with Aviva myself and was happy with the price & perks. However I haven't had to claim yet so I don't know how straight forward that would all be.

One thing I would say though if she is planning on getting car insurance in Ireland aswell Aviva might be your best bet as they do a discount for multi policies and are more flexible about non Irish driving experience. Well there are through the broker I work for anyway so I'd expect they'd be the same direct. As other people said though there is a period she'll need to be here before she can take it out so check that out.

senordingdong

Considering how much they all cost and what little cover they actually give, I would say you are better off not getting any, and just playing it safe.

REXER

If she can at all maintain her US medical insurance that would be the way to go.
The health system here is dire and for the cost of an airline ticket she can be back in a system that she trusts!
I came to Ireland more than a decade ago and there has never been a time that I haven’t regretted not trying to maintain the medical insurance that I had before in South Africa.

I know that my views will not be popular but the Irish system is over funded and hugely inefficient with no one being held accountable at any level.

Bakemate

Your girlfriend's US insurance won't be counted by the private health insurers when she moves to Ireland. She will be treated as a new entrant and will have to complete waiting periods before she is fully covered. As these waiting periods increase with age and the first increase in waiting periods occurs at age 55, she would to well to take out the insurance before she turns 55 is she can. You can find more information here on waiting periods for new customers.

http://www.hia.ie/consumer-info/new-customer-waiting-periods.htm

Insurers can waive these waiting periods, and although they rarely waive the waiting period for pre-existing conditions, they sometimes waive the new condition waiting period to get new customers. It's always worth asking.

senordingdong

REXER wrote: »

I know that my views will not be popular but the Irish system is over funded and hugely inefficient with no one being held accountable at any level.

Everybody knows that, but past governments strategies of blindly throwing money at problems to provide a sense of comfort and security without actually fixing anything has unfortunately been passed onto the people too.

BuffyBot

..none of which is relevant to this forum. Let's keep it on topic