Health insurance headache!!!

Mammamia17

Hey all,

Our VHI policy is due for renewal this week (currently we have 2 adults & 1 student on One plan Starter & two kids on One + plan) Renewal cost is €1822...am wondering if I should change to Laya Essential (Secure/First or Starter) all of which are cheaper ....but my head is fried looking at plans....basically I'm not bothered about private rooms.....for the kids I want to know that if they need tonsils out or something like that I'll be done...somewhere....quickly. For ourselves the big concern would be Cancer/Heart Attack and would these plans be really of much use for these scenarios.
We have no current health issues....I've had Sarcoidosis a few years back ....had a few surgeries but am currently clear & healthy....if I switch do I need to make Laya aware of this...
sorry for the rambling but any advice would be much appreciated

Snowshower

Went through this ourselves earlier this month, what a headache...we just told vhi what we wanted, they did the work and came back with a suitable policy...well hopefully. Have heard if one is very confused to go through a broker.

Good luck

ads20101

For what its worth I was with VHI for about 7 yrs before I realised they were the most expensive in the market. For the last 8 years I have moved around the others regularly.

I have used a broker (cornmarket) in the past but moved to dealing with Laya directly as I felt that they lost interest in me ("we will get back to you in 2 weeks as we're too busy")

Mammamia17

Thanks for the replies....I've rang Laya & am considering moving to a higher plan with them which will give much better cover for an extra €20 per month...but will give VHI a ring today & see what they can offer!

bbam

We left VHI as their plans were just getting crazy, and on two occasions during the year I was very unhappy with their customer service.. I had been a VHI member since 1996

LEya plans are well priced and seem to cover everything needed..
What you can do is adjust the cover on InPatient and Out Patient cover independently within the plan. WE opted to push the outpatient cover up to all private hospitals while opting for a €500 excess on inpatient cover..
We have a much better policy now for a fraction of the cost VHI were looking for..

As for the scenario regarding you children.. My OH is a department manager in a regional hospital, the one thing you will hear over and over is that children don't really need high levels of health insurance.. They are prioritised in A&E & they will be seen by a consultant anyway. Our eldest is 11 and was hospitalised last year for 3 days, and I saw this for myself. They didn't even take the VHI details from us.

ads20101

bbam wrote: »

We left VHI as their plans were just getting crazy, and on two occasions during the year I was very unhappy with their customer service.. I had been a VHI member since 1996

LEya plans are well priced and seem to cover everything needed..
What you can do is adjust the cover on InPatient and Out Patient cover independently within the plan. WE opted to push the outpatient cover up to all private hospitals while opting for a €500 excess on inpatient cover..
We have a much better policy now for a fraction of the cost VHI were looking for..

As for the scenario regarding you children.. My OH is a department manager in a regional hospital, the one thing you will hear over and over is that children don't really need high levels of health insurance.. They are prioritised in A&E & they will be seen by a consultant anyway. Our eldest is 11 and was hospitalised last year for 3 days, and I saw this for myself. They didn't even take the VHI details from us.

I'm going to sound hypocritical now...

I'm a nurse myself and agree with your OH in principle but I still have cover for my 6 yr old - piece of mind I think more than anything.

Besides it's only a fraction of our policies.

Hey, tbh I'm not sure - I think that's why I do it. But yes to my knowledge private and publicly treated children are not treated any differently.

Aidan64

Ask them about their corporate plans. They are not advertised on the website as they do not want you to know about them. If you ask about them they have to offer you them even though they are for company employees. You will save a fortune

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/latest-news/600-savings-on-offer-in-health-cover-price-war-29657249.html

peckerhead

Better still, try this. They won't tell you about it on the phone (and are not obliged to) because the sales teams' job is to try and sell more expensive plans — same cover, more profit.