Hi Browtal,
Sorry to hear of your poor experience with Laya whilst ill and abroad. This really seems like poor form on their side. I am curious did they swiftly refund you the €2000 deposit you placed down? This seems like a lot of money to expect people have left aside just in case for a hospital deposit and how is anyone supposed to know what would be a sufficient amount, unless you can put it all on a credit card until Laya refund you.
I am shocked that they do not cover repatriation. I know it's recommended to have travel insurance on top of your private health insurance cover but I took a look at company plans terms and conditions with VHI and repatriation is covered. VHI cover it if it is agreed necessary both to Ireland or to the nearest hospital if required treatment is not available in the area you are holidaying in. On top of that they cover up to €1000 for one companion's accommodation costs and €1000 for their transport costs.
It can be difficult to tell the difference between the service of health insurers in Ireland but it's moments like these that seem to put the VHI's not for profit structure out on top. Not to go too far off topic but your experience added to various bits of info over the years like the fact that in recent years it came out that the VHI cover the widest range of cancer drugs and treatments. They also appear to be the only insurer that doesn't charge any excess on chemo/radiotherapy treatments on many plans whereas Laya and Irish Life charge excess for at least the first treatment per set of treatments. They also gave back an additional round of rebate on premiums at the end of 2020 after doing the books which the other insurers did not follow with. Even as a non profit I'm sure they do a lot of bean counting to stay in the green but they appear to have a better assistance for the customer and possibly better cover.