Health Insurance Help me choose a plan

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Esto Fidelis

Registered User
Messages
2
Hi Guys,

Long time lurker here but first time to post so I hope you can help me.

I am looking for insurance for a couple in low 40's in good health, I want to get cover before the dead line but am that confused that I am at the point of giving up and leaving it but with your help I hope to be able to pick a plan

Glohealth Net more €755 ea
Laya 250 explore €753 ea
Aviva first focus 300 €799 ea

I live in the Midlands and my local hospital is covered with Glo but with the others they have full hospital cover and Laya and Aviva cover Blackrock Clinic & Mater Private and Becon I think. But Laya have a €100 shortfall per night.
The Glo has 2 add on features also, I think I would pick sports cover as I jog and use gym then male / female cover, I seen in a thread here back a while ago that Glo seems to have poor cancer care if you inspected the terms don't know if this is still the case but thus leaves me wary of Glo

If I could reduce the payments a bit but keep same level of care I would consider it too as I am in good health probably wouldn't mind paying a larger excess if this can be done.
Can you take a look at these plans and let me know what you think, having cover in the event of a cardiac problem or cancer is what is important to us really.

Thanks in advance

Esto
 
Hi Esto Fidelis,

Welcome to AAM.
Just to clarify, Blackrock Clinic and Mater Private are only covered on the Laya Flex Explore plans.
Aviva plan First Focus 300 covers Beacon with a 2000 co payment for cardiac and orthopaedic surgery.
These 3 hospitals are not covered with Glohealth Net More 300.

So overall, the Laya Flex 250 Explore(price 804pa) or Laya Flex 500 Explore(price 630) offer good hospital cover at a reasonable price.

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Note; the hospital excess amount 250 or 500 is payable on every admission to any private or hi-tech hospital. It is also payable
for a day case procedure in a private or hi-tech hospital. It is NOT payable in any public hospital.

Regarding Mater Private or Blackrock Clinic, cardiac and orthopaedic surgery is fully covered, no excess applies.
For all other surgery, in these two hospitals, there is a charge of 200 per night + the hospital excess of 250 or 500 depending on the
plan.
The Beacon hospital charges a co-payment (1800 - 5000) for orthopaedic surgery, knee + hip replacement.
All other surgery is covered with an excess of 250 or 500 per admission or day case.

Full list of public and private hospitals covered also. Private hospitals have an excess of 250 or 500 per admission or day case.

Snowyb
 
Thanks for taking the time to reply.

If we are in good health, now I know you can get knocked down in the morning is there any case for just putting in basic cover to get in before the deadline and up the cover as the years go by. Is there disadvantages to this, I presume there are some sort of penaltys.

Thanks

Esto
 
Just to clarify about the basic cover plans, cheapest plans on the market at the moment.
They only cover the public hospitals, so there is no option to go to a private hospital at all.
They cover the 75 per night fee which is payable in a public hospital if you are admitted and don't have a medical card or health insurance.
Max payable per person per year 75 x 10nights = 750. This fee also applies to children in public hospitals.
Also, if you require surgery, you go onto the same public waiting list as those with no health insurance. There is one common waiting
list now for all surgery in public hospitals, so having public only hospital cover is no advantage in that regard.

If you're just looking to avoid the 2% levy, they're fine, once you understand the limits on what they offer and don't expect
something that isn't there.

Upgrade Penalty = 2 year waiting time only for any pre-existing conditions

If you are choosing a basic plan with the intention of upgrading in the long term, the only upgrade waiting time relates to any
pre-existing conditions you have. These pre-existing conditions would not be covered in the private hospitals for 2 years, from whenever you upgrade.
These upgrade rules apply to anyone under 65, with Laya, Aviva, Glohealth, or VHI.
Note; VHI also apply an upgrade waiting time for new conditions that occur after the upgrade - (under 55yrs - 26 weeks)
(55-64yrs - 1 year) (over 65- 2 yrs)
The other 3 insurers don't apply any waiting time for new conditions that occur after the upgrade.

http://www.hia.ie/consumer-information/switchingupgrade-waiting-periods

Also, just make sure to check the list of hospitals covered, that they suit your area, some companies show the list of hospitals NOT covered, others the list of hospitals covered, some show both lists. If there is no specific list, it means they are all covered.

Regards, Snowyb
 
I am new to this site and new to the country. I need to decide on health insurance. I am 50 and my husband is 51. we have three kids age 15, 14 and 12. After reading and trying to understand enough to make a decision I have a plan but would like to know if it is convenient and if I am not making a terrible mistake. I like the idea of a cash save plan but I understand that my husband and I need to enroll in a plan that provides teh possibility of private hospitals . So I am considering the idea and I would like to know your opinion to enroll the children in a cash saving plan and my husband and I in Laya Flex 500 Explore. Could you tell me what you think?



snowyb said:
Just to clarify about the basic cover plans, cheapest plans on the market at the moment.
They only cover the public hospitals, so there is no option to go to a private hospital at all.
They cover the 75 per night fee which is payable in a public hospital if you are admitted and don't have a medical card or health insurance.
Max payable per person per year 75 x 10nights = 750. This fee also applies to children in public hospitals.
Also, if you require surgery, you go onto the same public waiting list as those with no health insurance. There is one common waiting
list now for all surgery in public hospitals, so having public only hospital cover is no advantage in that regard.

If you're just looking to avoid the 2% levy, they're fine, once you understand the limits on what they offer and don't expect
something that isn't there.

Upgrade Penalty = 2 year waiting time only for any pre-existing conditions

If you are choosing a basic plan with the intention of upgrading in the long term, the only upgrade waiting time relates to any
pre-existing conditions you have. These pre-existing conditions would not be covered in the private hospitals for 2 years, from whenever you upgrade.
These upgrade rules apply to anyone under 65, with Laya, Aviva, Glohealth, or VHI.
Note; VHI also apply an upgrade waiting time for new conditions that occur after the upgrade - (under 55yrs - 26 weeks)
(55-64yrs - 1 year) (over 65- 2 yrs)
The other 3 insurers don't apply any waiting time for new conditions that occur after the upgrade.

http://www.hia.ie/consumer-information/switchingupgrade-waiting-periods

Also, just make sure to check the list of hospitals covered, that they suit your area, some companies show the list of hospitals NOT covered, others the list of hospitals covered, some show both lists. If there is no specific list, it means they are all covered.

Regards, Snowyb
Click to expand...
 
Hi Miriam,
Welcome to AAM and welcome to Ireland.
The Laya Flex 500 Explore plan is a good hospital plan providing cover for all 3 levels of hospitals in Ireland.
Level 1 = Public hospitals; Level 2 = Private hospitals; Level 3 = Hi-tech hospitals;
The important thing to be aware of with this plan is that there is an excess or fee of 500 euro, which is payable if you are admitted
to a private hospital for surgery or as a day case procedure. If you had several admissions in a year, 500 euro is payable each time.
It is something to consider carefully when choosing this plan.

There are 2 other plans in the Flex range with similar cover with a lower excess amount, if the 500 excess is too high.
1. Laya Flex 250 Explore; price per adult 804pa.
2. Laya Flex 175 Explore; price per adult 899pa.
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Regarding your second query re taking out a cash saving plan for the children, the family ones are worth considering which cover everyone in the family. However, to make it really cost effective, you would nearly need to have substantial dental costs to reap
full benefits. Otherwise, you would be barely breaking even using up all gp and prescription allowances on the plan.

As a second alternative option for the children, Laya healthcare have an offer at the moment, where you pay for one child on a full health insurance plan and the rest of the children go free. Two of these seven plans as part of the offer include good day to day medical cover for gp, etc. as well as full hospital cover( 3 levels included). Details as follows;

1. Laya Flex 125 Choice; child price 373pa; 3 level hospital cover(125 private excess) + day to day cover (excess 1 euro)
2. Laya Flex 125 Plus; child price 299pa; 3 level hospital cover(125 private excess) + day to day cover (excess 50 euro)

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Hope this explains things a little more clearly.

Regards, Snowyb
 
Thank you for the info.
I am seriously considering HSF cash saving ( the highest) . It gives 800 in dental and optical and hsf is waiving the waiting period for new members . So this means that also my husband and i could also benefit from it. I think however, that we also need to buy another insurance for my husband and I . So that we do not have to wait another two years for preexisting conditions.Mind we are pretty healthy right now but we are concerned that if we don't do it now we may have a preexisting condition next year.
 
I am soon returning to Ireland from abroad and will be taking out HealthInsurance. I wish to deal with VHI aand have access to a private hospital. Am aged 30 and in good health. I know there is a plethora of plans but apart from the "cheap" ones I assume most will cover your hospital stay and associated medical costs. So any advice would be appreciated.
 
Trojan,

The following plan PMI 37 13, with VHI is worth considering, price per annum 1011.
This has good hospital cover, including 3 levels, public, private and hi-tech hospital cover.
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Note, this plan does not cover day to day medical costs, gp or consultant visits etc.
VHI plan PMI 36 13 would include this type of cover, price 1 175 pa.
[broken link removed]

VHI do not have a great selection of plans below this price range.
Any lower priced plans would just include the beacon hospital as hi-tech cover.
Also, the private hospital excess would be 250 per visit.

[broken link removed]



Hope this helps.
Snowyb
 
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