Laya Flex 250 Explore - Price increase of €110 on last year.

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Grizzly

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I am currently on the Laya Flex 250 Explore policy. I have just received my renewal recently and I noticed that this policy has been increased in price by €110 or 11%.

I contacted Laya and I was told that some policies had increased in price and others had not. I believe that this is one on the popular policies that was being recommended by Laya staff last year. I am concerned that with a lot of popular policies they get the higher increase every year. Unfortunately I do not know the percentages that other Laya policies were increased by. Is there a listing somewhere?

I remember Plan B with the VHI used to get the biggest increases year on year compared to other VHI policies.

Anyhow as it is renewal time I was wondering if anyone who may have been on the Flex 250 explore product moved to a similar benefits product within the Laya group for a lower price or to a similar product with the VHI?

Thanks.
 
Hi Grizzly,

This is the link to the list of plans that increased from 1st September 2015.
http://www.hia.ie/news/laya-healthcare-price-changes-01092015

There is no cheaper plan with similar cover to Laya Flex Explore 250. You would have to either take on a higher excess(500) or drop some
hi-tech cover to move to a cheaper plan. This was already covered in a recent thread
Laya 3 Adult Laya Renewals/Alternatives? by suzie.

I am on that plan myself at the moment, renewing in November. I'm deciding between staying on Flex Explore 250 or switching to Laya Simply Connect price 999pa. I don't like dropping hi-tech cover or taking on higher excesses.

Regards, Snowyb
 
Thanks Snowyb. I was hoping that you would respond. I think I chose this plan last year based on your recommendations. I don't like taking on higher excesses either even though I am in good health. Laya are sending me out some details of their Flex 500 plus and Flex 500 explore. However my hospital excess moves from €250 to €500. The annual cost saving on the first one will be €82 and on the second €195. I have to decide do I take the lower premiums for these savings against potentially paying an extra €250 if I am admitted to hospital.
 
I know, its a tricky one to weigh up. You'd need a contingency fund in place, just in case.
The one good thing that was changed recently on the Flex plan range, is the day case excess.
The new excess for day case procedures is 150 per visit, for the Flex 500 Explore,Plus or Choice plans. Note; it used to be 500 per day case.:eek:
Full details as follows, section 5;
http://www.hia.ie/news/laya-healthcare-various-changes-01092015

Snowyb
 
I got my Laya Flex 250 Explore policy renewal with a large increase, I checked online and it is about 80 euro cheaper (10% online discount)... Anyone know of the ramification of buying online? Is the discount only for new members?
 
That's interesting ABME. I have just renewed and paid the €110 price increase for both myself and my wife. I do have a back out clause for a couple of weeks. I simply paid by credit card on renewal. Not much work for Laya at the other end.
I will be pretty peed off if you can confirm that I could have saved the €110 plus a further €80 by treating it as a new policy. Let us know what happens when you raise the issue with them.
 
ABME said:
I got my Laya Flex 250 Explore policy renewal with a large increase, I checked online and it is about 80 euro cheaper (10% online discount)... Anyone know of the ramification of buying online? Is the discount only for new members?
Click to expand...

This 10% discount is available to anyone buying or renewing online on certain plans, including Flex 250 Explore, not just new members.
Quote for renewal on 1st November 2015 is 759pa or 780approx if paying monthly.
The plans included for the 10% online discount are the Assure range(public only cover) Flex 125, 250 + 500 range(Explore, Plus + Choice) also the
Advantage 125, 250 + 500 range(Explore, Plus + Choice).

Snowyb
 
This is getting very confusing. I renewed online, the Flex 250 Explore, and I paid €854.20 for a once off full year payment. I was not offered any discount. That was over a week ago and nobody has contacted me or even sent me a receipt yet.
When you went in to renew did it offer you a 10% discount online?
 
I went in under the heading 'Join Laya Healthcare' and clicked on 'get a quote'. Create your scheme comes up and when you choose
hospital cover = comprehensive
250 excess
day to day expenses = standard
a quote of 759pa comes up and you click "buy online" and fill in your details from there, I went as far as payment page without going any further,
ie I didn't renew yet but it allows existing customers to fill in existing details without the price going up.

At that stage, I did an online chat to enquire if the discount was available to all customers including existing, through online method. I was informed yes and the offer was made to put it through there and then if I wanted.
I'm still making up my mind, but the offer including 10% discount still stands.

Regards, Snowyb
 
I simply logged on to their website to pay my renewal. So if I had gone in to rejoin and resubmitted both myself and my wife's information I would have got a 10% discount. Saving us almost €200.

I will ring them this morning and see what happens.
 
Is there any danger that in renewing online in this way you will lose the history built up, ie you may be treated as a new member?
 
I did think about this and because of my age it is something to consider. However I can argue that it is exactly the same policy as the previous year, with the same company and that I was simply availing of the 10% discount by renewing online. It was only the payment method that was different. I will see if I can retain my existing policy number.
 
Eithneangela said:
Is there any danger that in renewing online in this way you will lose the history built up, ie you may be treated as a new member?
Click to expand...
There's a section to fill in your current cover, Laya membership number etc when buying online, so your history is taken into account. But, I agree, it's always wise to double check and confirm these issues with a phone call.

Grizzly, it's not satisfactory what happened in your case and worth making an issue about it in a phone call.
It's a hit and miss at times, sometimes it depends who you get on the phone, which should not be the case either. You renewed online in good faith and should have got the 10% discount, with no hassle attached.

Snowyb
 
O.K. I made the phone call. The customer service rep that I was speaking to confirmed that the discount was only available for NEW policies. It was not available to existing policyholders even when renewing online. I would have to take out a new policy and cancel the old one.
I pointed out there was some discussion on AAM and on their Facebook page about this. When he referred my query to his supervisors he confirmed that they were aware of the AAM and Facebook posts. He also said that there was some confusion at Laya about this and apologised for the mixed messages coming from Laya customer service.
In the end I did not have to take out a new policy but having paid my renewal he confirmed that I would not have to cancel my old policy and take out a new one. I would simply get my 10% recredited to my credit card.
This apparently takes about 5 days.
 
FYI:

I have to cancel existing policy and then renew online again to get the 10%, better in my pocket than their

S.
 
I actually got a cheque in the post for both my policy and my wife's policy and not a refund to my credit card.
 
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