Laya Advantage 500 Choice Premium up 33.5%!

PolkaDot

Registered User
Messages
378
Hi,

I received an email today from Laya informing that my renewal premium on Advantage 500 Choice is €1,047 - up from €784 last year. This is an increase of 33.5%, which is outrageous!

I called them to discuss it and basically the message was that there have been 3 price increases in the past year and it's just tough luck! They claim this is primarily due to the public hospital bed charges being charged to private health insurances policy holders (€813 per night).

Has anyone else experience a premium increase of this magnitude in the past year?

Thanks
 
Similar grief here, leading me to compare alternative plans. We are on Laya Flex 250 Plus, renewal date 1/3/17, this year premium €1110.75, up from €805.70 last year (+ 37.9%). (Both premium figures are net).

I haven't bothered to 'phone, but as increases go, it's a bit naughty IMHO.

Paul
 
PolkaDot,

Advantage 500 Plus plan is the nearest alternative, the only difference being a 50 euro excess for day to day benefits, ie the first 50 not allowed
for day to day cover.
[broken link removed]


There are a selection of alternative plans available if day to day cover is not important. Details as follows;
[broken link removed]


2 more alternative options with full hospital cover 3 levels; public, private and hi-tech hospital cover included.
Details as follows;

1. Flex 500 Explore; price 757pa; all public,private and hi-tech hospital cover included, 500 inpatient excess, 150 day case excess. No day to day cover.
2. Control 300 Create; price 972pa; all public, private(including private room) hi-tech hospital cover, 300 inpatient excess, 125 day case excess, good day to day cover included.
[broken link removed]


Regards, Snowyb
 
PM9999,

Similar level of hospital cover, also extra day to day cover, with lower excesses for inpatient or day case. Details as follows;

1. Simply Connect; price 1101pa; same hospital cover as before, max excess 150 x 2 per year, day to day cover included, 1 euro excess -
max refund 300 per year.
2. Simplicity; price 1087pa; same hospital cover as before, including extra cover for a private room in a private hospital, max excess 100 x 2
per year, day case excess 50 per visit. Day to day cover included, first 100 not allowed.
3. Control 300 Create; price 972pa; same hospital cover as before, including extra cover for a private room in a private hospital, excess 300 per
admission to a private/hi-tech hospital, day case excess 125 per visit.

[broken link removed]


Cheaper plans would have no hi-tech cover, higher excess and no day to day cover. Details in the following link;
[broken link removed]

Hopefully prices stay the same until March 1 2017.

Snowyb
 
@ Snowyb – thanks for the input. I think you have pointed me towards our next plan.

On a general level, I find (& seemingly others do too) the sheer number of available options bewildering. Thinking about it, it boils down to: public hospital or private? Include hi tech or not? Good outpatient or not? Day to day or not? 16 possible combinations. Allowing for other subtleties (orthopaedic, cardiac cover, say) you can’t convince me that more than 20 or so basic plans are required, with differing levels of excess. Just looking at the Laya website, and ignoring the differing levels of excess (so a Flex 250 Plus is the same as a Flex 375 Plus is the same as a Flex 500 Plus etc), and ignoring “family” variants I count:

Advantage x 3
Care Manager
Company Care x 6
Company Health x 2
Connect x 2
Control x 4
Empower x 3
Essential x 8
Flex x 3
Future Protect x 3
Health Manager x 4
Health Protect
Health Sense x 3
Precision x 3
Simply Connect x 2
Simply Health x 3
Total Health x 5
Simplicity x 3
Care Select
Health Secure

a total of 61 different options before considering what level of excess. I also understand that some of these are company – provided options only, but having more than 50 different policies seems designed to confuse the average punter (me). From Snowyb’s reply to me, some of the cover levels of these options differ relatively little, but with a big variation in price. Why?

One last rant to end this rambling post. The news section of the HIA comparison website (I can’t post links) has a 1/1/17 entry about Laya price increases. I quote:

Laya Healthcare will apply a price change across 56 plans from 1 January 2017. 7 plans reduced in price by an average of 7% on gross premiums. The remaining 49 plans increased in price by an average of 5% on gross premiums. The new rates can be seen in the attached spreadsheet. These premiums apply to all new and renewing customers from this date.

That seems to cover 56 plans out of the 61 I counted above. Maybe PolkaDot and I were just the unlucky ones with our 30 – odd percent increases?

Paul
 
@snowyb and @PM9999, thanks for your replies and info.

I have used the HIA website before and it's very useful. I will look into those plans you have recommended.

I also agree that there are far too many products on the market. It is a total minefield.
 
PM9999,

Your conundrum is even more complicated than choosing a plan.o_O

All I can say is that price or difference in price of plans does not relate to content of plans.
For example, a cheaper priced plan does not necessarily mean less cover.
Likewise a more expensive priced plan does not always mean extra cover.
Plus, the higher up the ladder you go pricewise, the more ridiculous the price difference becomes apparant between similar plans
at lower prices.

Its a mugs game until you learn to see through it.;)

Snowyb
 
That seems to cover 56 plans out of the 61 I counted above. Maybe PolkaDot and I were just the unlucky ones with our 30 – odd percent increases?

Paul

You are unlucky but the insurers have also been quite sneaky and now increase plan prices a few times a year rather than the one increase in past years.
Re: number of plans, unfortunately our competition laws don't allow the number of plans to be limited! Currently I'd say there are around 20 very good value plans on the market, the rest just help to create confusion.
 
@snowyb you seem to know your stuff when it comes to Health Insurance. I'd be interested in your "two cents" on this please? After a bit of research, I was considering Laya Precision 600 Total: [broken link removed]

The main drivers of me considering this:
  • I would like to keep my premium the same for financial reasons i.e. in the €750-€800 range
  • I don't mind having to pay a large excess for access to a private hospital
  • I wasn't getting the value out of the level of day-to-day cover on the Advantage 500 Choice plan - I don't visit my GP regularly and the only claim I have made in the past year was a routine dental visit
  • I am reasonably healthy
I realise that I would be reducing my level cover, particularly for hi-tech hospitals.

Is there anything else I'm not taking into account?

Thanks for your help.
 
PolkaDot,

If I was choosing in that price range, I would be inclined to choose a plan with the broadest choice of hospitals available - which would point to
Flex 500 Explore price 757pa. All public, private and hi-tech hospitals covered on this plan.
The Precision and Advantage range of plans have a limited list of private hospitals. As a dub, it would mean cover for only the Hermitage and
Santry Sports Clinic. The Bons Secours Dublin or St Vincents Elm Park are not on the list.
[broken link removed]


If I had to choose a plan within that range, I would firstly choose either Advantage 375 Explore price 746pa or Precision 450 Connect price 715.
Mainly due to the lower excess for practically the same price as Precision 600 Total price 750. Its a personal choice - I would drop the day to day
cover in favour of the lower excess on admission.
[broken link removed]


If a 600 excess doesn't bother you that much, I would go for Precision 600 Connect price 655pa. Same as Precision 600 Total but without the day
to day cover.
[broken link removed]

As a final option, since your budget limit is 800, just to show the full extent of whats available on that budget - there's a plan that includes full cover for a private room in a private hospital, 600 excess, hi-tech hospital cover included. Details as follows;
Laya Control 600 Connect; price 793pa;
[broken link removed]

It depends what your priorities are regarding hospital choices, excess amount, day to day and overall budget.
Note; with Laya you can switch during the year if you knew you would need extra day to day cover as there is no waiting time applied to that cover.
Hope this helps to see the bigger picture.

Snowyb
 
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@snowyb I never responded to the above. Thanks for your comprehensive response.

I think you are correct in saying the choice between things like a lower excess vs day to day cover is a personal choice. I guess one way I look at it is that there is a higher probability of claiming with regards to the day to day cover and I see the policy as providing the possibility of access to private hospitals in the unlikely case I need them. It depends on one's view of the level of risk.

On the likes of Precision 600 Total vs Connect, there is an €80 dental cover on the former that I would definitely avail of, meaning it's probably worth going for the Total policy over Connect in that case.
 
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