Health Insurance Cancel or change my HI (Laya CompanyCare Choice)?

weyhey

Registered User
Messages
14
My finances have plummeted this year and I am currently living off my overdraft and my HI has to go or be greatly reduced. I am hoping next year will be better. My head is melted looking at all the plans and options.

Myself (over 40) and my two young kids (age 4 and under) are on Laya CompanyCare Choice at €1,427.52 for me and €394.10 for each child NET, €2,215.72 NET for us all.


My options seem to be:

1. Cancel HI for a year for all three of us.
2. Reduce HI to the bare minimum for the year (or longer) for all three of us.
3. Just insure the kids.


Anyone any reasons why I should pick one over the other?

Anyone know any bare basic plans I could use?

Also if I cut my Laya plan to the bare minimum do I have to abide by waiting periods as I haven’t changed provider?

Any help would be really really appreciated.
 
Hi weyhey,

Welcome to AAM. If you cancel for a year, you would have to serve waiting times as a new customer again if you rejoin at a later stage.
The best option is to reduce to the bare minimum for as long as you want.
I think Glohealth might be the best option to go for, as they have free kids under 3s and half price for children under 12.
They also have a basic public hospital plan for yourself, called Kick Off plan. This new plan has a unique feature, the first of its type, where you
can upgrade to Kick Off Upgrade plan(890) at any time(outside renewal date) in the future years, for surgery in a private hospital with no upgrade waiting time applied.

For the moment, details of Kick Off plan as follows; Adult price 540pa, public hospital cover only upto semi-private room.
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2 Half price kids offers for children under 12 years as follows;
1. Nurture Plan; price 100 per child; public, private and some hi-tech hospital cover. 300 private excess.
2. Nurture Plus Plan; price 140 per child; public, private and hi-tech hospital cover. Lower private excess 125 and 50 day case.
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Free children under 3 yrs; If your younger child is under 3, this plan will suit as follows;
1. Bloom Plan; price; free for under 3 yrs, public hospital cover.
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Hope this offers a solution to your current situation.

Regards, Snowyb
 
Thank you snowyb I really appreciate your advice and the time taken to reply. I have spent last night and today trying to look into the various schemes you suggested etc. This led me down the road of people suggesting that HI cover in public hospitals may be a waste of money - what do people think? Is it the same for kids as well as adults seeing as there is no private kids hospitals?

Anyone know if glohealth are good with paying claims? I have found Laya very good over the years but some places I attended had trouble with VHI and if i was a VHI member they said they wanted payment upfront. Don't know about Glohealth.
 
Alternative options with Laya as follows including public,private and hi-tech hospital cover, price depends on the hospital excess you are happy with;

1. Flex 500 Explore; price 661pa; all public,private and hi-tech hospitals covered, private/hi-tech excess 500 payable on admission for surgery or treatment. Limited day to day cover.
2. Flex 250 Explore; price 854pa; same hospital cover as no 1, with 250 private/hi-tech excess if admitted for surgery. This is a one off payment, it is not a nightly charge.
3. Essential Connect Family; price 920pa, all public,private and Beacon Hospital covered, 300 family excess per year.
4. Control 300 Create; price 937pa; all public,private and hi-tech hospitals covered, 300 excess per private/hi-tech admission, good day to day cover gp refund 30, consultant 80 etc.

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Another option with Aviva as follows; including selected public, private and Beacon Hospital covered, excess 150 per admission.
1. Aviva Select Plus; price 854pa;
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Identical options to Company Care Choice with Laya as follows;
1. Simply Connect; price 999pa; all public,private and hi-tech hospitals covered, 150 excess, good day to day cover.
2. Simplicity plan; price 1044pa; all public, private and hi-tech hospitals covered, 100 excess, good day to day cover(100 day to day excess).
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Childrens Options with Laya
1. Flex 500 Explore; price 171 per child; public, private and hi-tech hospitals covered. 500 excess.
2. Essential Connect Family; price 204 per child; public,private and Beacon hospital covered. 300 excess.
3. Simply Connect; public,private and hi-tech hospitals covered. 150 excess. good day to day covered.
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VHI are best value at the moment for children, half price offer as follows;
1. One + Plan; price 131 per child; all public,private and hi-tech hospitals covered.
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NOTE; you can put the children with VHI as they allow children only on a policy, your name will go on the policy but only the children are insured.
You could pick Laya or Aviva for yourself, to save money.

I've no experience of dealing with Glohealth.

Regards, Snowyb
 
Hi op
I have just renewed. Glo better active plan are giving children under 3 free with an adult. I have no experience dealing with glo. Cornmarket picked it out for me. If you go through them you will save 5% or if you renew on a Sunday in January you get 5% off from glo. That is around €1010.80 (with discount) So you would get yourself and one child free, then you could put 4 year old on vhi. The one plan complete has no excess and is maybe €20 more expensive than one + plan. €151.32.

I went with laya (simply connect for adults and simply connect plus for toddler) after Snowyb recommended it to me
I would always have health insurance for my toddler as the waiting times are a joke e.g. Grommets etc. touch wood we have never had to use it. When I was asking about hospital cover for my son vhi told me the the majority of routine operations for kids are done in the beacon eg getting tonsils on as they are too busy in public children's hospitals. Beacon, blackrock and mater private have children's wards.

:)
 
Thanks again Snowby and also Familyof3, again great information there. I really appreciate it.
 
I've always found Laya fantastic to deal with. I'd ring them and explain your situation and ask what's the most basic level of cover you could get and what does it actually cover.
 
Thanks everyone. I decided to go with Flex Explore with laya for me and VHI One + Plam Complete for the kids thanks to your recommendations.

These are deducted from my pay. I noticed on my Flex Explore policy it says from 1st Jan, I have already got paid for Jan and my Laya deduction was based on my original policy (higher one for myself and my kids) anyone know how Laya handle this? I.e. do I have to pay for first two weeks at highter level then 50 weeks (i.e from day i notified them of the change) at new policy or will I get credited the higher amount and then billed for the lower amount?

Also I haven't signed up with VHI yet. As Feb is nearly over should I sign up from Feb 1st to avoid paying February's amount?

(By the way shoppergal I have had good dealings with Laya to date but I heard a few people say that Laya were too busy to answer some of their questions at the moment.)
 
Jan 1st was my renewal date and i let Laya know Jan 14th that i was downgrading mine and cancelling the kids.
 
Thats ok! No you won't be charged the higher amount for 2 weeks, your new plan will be backdated to 1 Jan 2016 and a rebate will go through your salary automatically. As long as you don't leave it 13 weeks to renew the kids with VHI, there will be no waiting times to re-serve. So its ok to sign up in Feb.
Snowyb
 
An update for anyone interested.

I decided to go with VHI One Complete at €157 per child from Feb 1st via my work group scheme. I finally got my paperwork in the post yesterday showing only a policy for Feb 1st to March 7th for 12.89 per child. I contacted my rep who said VHI Insurance year starts on March 8th so I will get updated renewal, didn't mention price. Today I get updated renewal for 262 per child. I am not happy. It seems their discounted offer for kids ends March 1st and I am being penialised for going via my work scheme. I have sent off an email to say i am not happy and will cancel if I have to as the only reason I went with them was because of the price.

Does anyone know if I have 14 days to cancel from Feb 1st (the date my first VHI renewal starts) or 14 days from when I gave the go ahead to my rep to purchase the policy? And if so can I then purchase the policy online for €157 per child (which is available up to Feb 29th. ). I don't really have the money upfront so this may not be an option for me. I am so confused by all of this.
 
Hi weyhey,

First of all, you have 14 days from Feb 1st to change your mind, so you could pull out of your work group scheme for the children and claim a refund.
At the same time you can sign up online or by telephone for One Plan Complete 157 per child, with the same renewal date 1st Feb 2016. You would have the option of paying by direct debit or you may be able to pay through your salary but not be part of the work scheme. You would need to enquire beforehand if this is possible, otherwise a direct debit would be the answer.

Snowyb
 
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