health insurance for visiting parents

rizdub

hello,
Could anyone please advise me about buying a good health insurance plan for visiting family to Ireland?
my parents are planning to visit Ireland and UK for 2-3 months.
They are both 65 years old. My mother has diabetes and needs to take regular medicine to keep it in control. While I hope and pray that they wont need any medical assistance during their stay here, I want to buy a health insurance plan for any emergencies?
Could anyone please advise which plan would be suitable for 65 year old parents with pre-existing conditions.
Thanks.

Spocker

An Irish Health insurance plan is not what you're looking for, for at least 2 reasons:

- there are waiting periods for pre-existing conditions, which is usually 5 years for those over 50
- your parents must be resident in Ireland, to take out an Irish health insurance policy (see section 2G of this document, as an example)

Perhaps you are looking for travel insurance, with a higher level of medical cover? This should be taken out and in-force (in the country of origin) before any travel takes place

rizdub

Thanks a a lot for replying. So insurance need to be bought before they travel.

I love Sean nos

Are they coming from the EU? If so, get one of the European health cards. I might have a link somewhere.

This was it. Your parents would need to apply in their own EU country.

If your parents already have health cover, it might be possible to extend it to cover travel to the UK and Ireland.

uck51js9zml2yt

They need an e111 ehic.ie for Irish residents . There will be a UK version of it.
It allows free emergency treatment.

Mcveeno

As per Spocker, health insurance will be invalid if your parents are not current residents of the Republic of Ireland. The type of insurance policy your parents would need is travel insurance which must be bought within the country your parents are residing in.

If you're only looking for medical cover, maybe look at different companies with travel insurance policies, and check the type of policy benefits and cover in place for medical.

rizdub

I love Sean nos wrote: »

Are they coming from the EU? If so, get one of the European health cards. I might have a link somewhere.

This was it. Your parents would need to apply in their own EU country.

If your parents already have health cover, it might be possible to extend it to cover travel to the UK and Ireland.

they are coming from India so no European health cards. It seems I will have to buy insurance from India but their coverage could be limited.

Yggr of Asgard

Your parents need travel insurance that they need to buy in India.

If you search for Schengen Visa Insurance you will find loads of international providers that also cover Ireland/UK with their plans designed to match the Schengen Visa Insurance requirements. While those requirements don't exist for Ireland/UK they are a good basic coverage as long as you ensure that Ireland/UK is also covered and not just Schengen area.