Health Insurance Advice for 23 year old female

[paulgalway]

Need some advice for my 23 year old daughter.

She wants to join a health insurance plan but is totally confused.

She is 23, non smoker and has never had health issues.

what would be the bes company & plan for her to join.

thanks.

 

[eamo15]

if in good health why throw away her money she should wait until 32 or 33 then join to get a cheap premium thats my opinion..

 

[moneybox]

would agree with eamo15, there really is no need for a healthy young lady to take out a health insurance policy, God forbid she has an accident she will be looked after perfectly well in the public system.

 

[michaelm]

If one can can afford it then I think it's worth have a low-end health insurance in case elective surgery is required at some point. VHI's One Plan Starter costs €530 and provides basic cover for such eventualities. Laya Flex 500 Explore costs €630 and covers a private room in a public hospital. No doubt there are better value low-end plans available but that's what hia.ie and snowyb are for.

 

[snowyb]

Hi paulgalway,

Firstly, it is pointless to take out a plan with just public hospital cover, as she would go on the same public list for surgrey as those with no health insurance.
Secondly, this is a bit of a challenge to research at the moment as there are new pricing lists for young adults and the hia.ie website is not fully updated yet to show the prices for each individual age bracket. The link provided requires x-ray vision to read.

http://www.hia.ie/news/aviva-health-glohealth-laya-healthcare-and-vhi-price-changes-01052015

However, I've narrowed it down to 3 plans worth considering, as follows,

1. VHI Start Plan 250
Price for 23 year old; 496 pa
There is a selected list of both public and private hospitals with this plan. I'm not sure where she is based. If these lists of hospitals suit, location wise, this is a good plan.

2,. VHI One Plan 250
Price for 23 year old; 566pa
Similar to above plan, only difference is there is no restricted hospital list, (all hospitals are covered.)

3. LAYA Simply Connect
Price for 23 year old; 681 pa.
This is a comprehensive plan, includes public, all private and hi-tech hospital cover.
It also includes good day to day cover, gp, dental, consultants etc, upto 300 per year.
Low day case excess of 50 euro per visit.

Comparison as follows:
[broken link removed]

Link for Laya plan Simply Connect price for a 23 year old, this plan was released on June 1st 2015, and is not on the above detailed list.
http://www.hia.ie/news/laya-healthcare-will-release-2-new-plans-1-june-2015

Hope this makes sense.

Regards, Snowyb

 

[michaelm]

Firstly, it is pointless to take out a plan with just public hospital cover, as she would go on the same public list for surgrey as those with no health insurance.

Are you sure about this? I have thought that you could get elective surgery done privately in a public hospital.

 

[snowyb]

Yes, you can get elective surgery done private ly in a public hospital, but you don't skip the queue anymore, if you have health insurance, in a public hospital.
There are common waiting lists for surgery now in public hospital s.
These changes came into effect on January 1st 2014, as a result of the introduction of bed redesignation
in public hospitals.
In short, it means that the 20% of beds that used to be designated as 'private' have been re-designated as public. So all beds are available to all patients public or private.

This article explains it very well.
[broken link removed]

Snowyb

 

[michaelm]

Even given common waiting lists due to bed re-designation would an elective private patient in a public hospital not effectively still skip public patients waiting to see a consultant by virtue of quicker private access to the consultant?

 

[snowyb]

Yes, you're right. By paying to see a consultant, you skip one queue, but the surgery queue could still be 1-2years depending on the type of surgery. In my opinion, it makes sense to choose a plan including private hospital cover, to give yourself more options. You can achieve this for a few quid a week more, compared to the basic plans, which goes a long way in terms of cover.
Snowyb