Health insurance - price increases and potential ways of saving

wil

I am looking to cut back on rocketing health insurance costs.
Would like some clear concise input on top of the info I've found so far and a bit of advice re the confusing plethora of plans.
I caught part of discussion on PKenny a few weeks back. They were supposed to put up the details on the rte site of savings as mentioned by an adviser from Cornmarket but havent (I guess thats why they were on there to drive you to their site and pay for advice/services) so I eventually listened back and checked the various sites. I wish Pat wouldnt interupt just when he was about to clarify some details.

So important points I have gleamed so far. (please check and confirm, I am not reponsible for any errors, misinterpretations or wrong info)
There are potentially big savings for some by switching/cancelling restarting insurance before certain dates when new contract rules will apply on top of price increases.
Some plans might actually be cheaper for new customers than before and some plans are almost identical but considerably cheaper than premium plans.

All seem to have 14 day cooling off periods when you can cancel or change provider without penalty.
NB - Seems that if you are on old contract terms you may be able to cancel or switch provider mid term without penalty. these old contracts are ending soon and I can only find dates for Aviva and Laya

Aviva - allow switching plan (not provider) mid term.
No penalty for Mid term cancellation if renewed prior to 1/8/2012 (old contract) and no claims.
Cancellation/stopping if renewed after 1/8/2012 - Penalty = Health insurance levy(pro rata) + 25
- Full premium if you had in or day patient claims, pro rata if you had out patient claims.
Aviva will increase premiums on 69 plans on 31st March 2013 by an average of 4%

GloHealth will allow switching plan mid-term
Allow mid term removal of dependant from main policy holder for penalty of Health insurance levy.
Cancellation/stopping penalty of HIL plus possible full premium (at their discretion)
Glohealth will increase premiums on their core hospital plans on 31 March 2013 by 1 - 10%

Laya Healthcare allow switching plan mid-term
cancellation/stopping -Full premium required - (may be sought?).
but if renewed prior to 18 June 2012 may cancel mid-term if no inpatient or day patient claims and premiums for the remainder of the term will be refunded.
1/4/2013 -Essential Plus with Excess and Essential Plus No Excess will decrease by 17% on adult premiums.
Premiums will increase by 7-15% on most plans

Vhi Healthcare no info about switching plan
Cancellation/stopping mid-term - penalty of HILevy plus 50
unless you have claims - you will be charged full premium
14th April 2013. PMI 26 12 premiums will increase from €933.34 to €1,050
Vhi will increase premiums by 5-15% on 15 plans on 28 March 2013

Switching
http://www.hia.ie/consumer-information/switching/
Cancelling
http://www.hia.ie/consumer-information/cancelling/

Governments site
http://www.hia.ie/ci/health-insurance-comparison
basic independent comparison site
http://www.freetocompare.ie/healthinsurance
Cornmarkets Health insurance comparison
http://www.healthinsurancesavings.ie/

Aviva
VHI
Laya
Glohealth

Disclaimer - all these details were trancribed from various HI and comparison sites but I am human and could have made mistakes, so please check yourself. I have no connection whatsoever with the industry or any associated services advisers etc

mr j tayto

I would advise anyone who is thinking of switching plans even within the same company to be very careful.
I did just that to try and save some money, but I wasn't informed at the time that I would not be covered for "existing illnesses" for 2 full years.
This caused me a lot of problems as I thought that I could switch to the cheaper plan without any conditions attached.
Make sure to get all relevant information before switching plans.

LostArt

You would be covered for pre existing illnesses, there is just a waiting period for the use of the increased benefit. You would still have your existing cover until the waiting period was over.

There is no waiting period for downgrading your cover.

Truman Burbank

mr j tayto wrote: »

I wasn't informed at the time that I would not be covered for "existing illnesses" for 2 full years. This caused me a lot of problems as I thought that I could switch to the cheaper plan without any conditions attached.

LostArt is correct.

What I have highlighted is incorrect. Assuming you did not have a break in cover of X weeks (see HIA and your provider's T&Cs), you have no waiting period if you switched to an equivalent plan or a lower plan.

What I have highlighted is correct but you have written it incorrectly if you mean
- by cheaper plan, a plan with more benefits (e.g. a better plan, like a corporate plan with more benefits, the premium for which costs less)
- and that that 'better plan' has specific increased benefits that you cannot use for X amount of time for a per-existing illness (e.g. some plans cover €1k for IVF but you have to be on that specific plan for 24 months)

OP - Have written on this before. Corporate plan and no excess is the way to go. The 'add-ons' for GLO are rubbish. Everyone is paying for maternity cover, so it's a marketing ploy basically for anyone to think they're not. Pretty sure that point was made in the Pat Kenny discussion - heard it over the w/e on Podcast (was uploaded)

wil

Truman Burbank wrote: »

OP - Have written on this before. Corporate plan and no excess is the way to go. The 'add-ons' for GLO are rubbish. Everyone is paying for maternity cover, so it's a marketing ploy basically for anyone to think they're not. Pretty sure that point was made in the Pat Kenny discussion - heard it over the w/e on Podcast (was uploaded)

Thanks for the input. I realise there were posts on similar before but the adviser on PK raised a few points that were timely and relevant to right now.

1 - this is the last opportunity for many people to switch provider mid term if they are currently on old rules contracts.
2 - People on Laya Essentials Plus Excess - this is being reduced so they probably should try to stop and restart to gain the price reduction, or
3 - he suggested switching to I think HealthWise Plus No Excess which seems to be very similar and saving a few hundred per policy.
4 - Maternity - and various other "benefits" have to be included by law as all insurers must provide minimum benefits regardless of whether you can use them - silly law.
5 - He suggested mixing insurance providers to get the best value.

What we could do with is simpler guide to choosing what best suits depending on circumstance.
If you knew what you couldnt get readily on the public system and pay towards that.
There are no private childrens beds AFAIK so what is the point of PHI for kids - what could you not avail of without it?
If you have a doctors medical card or even a full card, which would be the best choice of insurance.
If you drop down to lower cover, what typically would be foolish to drop.
You would expect policies with excess to be ,much cheaper, so why drop the excess.
I feel the multitude of policies are designed to confuse and worry customers in to paying for insurance they really dont need but due to the state of our system, feel they might.

NUTLEY BOY

Before my last renewal with Laya I wrote asking for details of any products close to what I already held with them. They came up with a virtually identical policy that was 25% cheaper. The exercise was worthwhile as it could have been the difference between holding on to the policy or giving it up.
I have an existing problem so I was happy to keep it with the same insurer as I am unclear about waiting periods if I had gone to another insurer.