Health Insurance Renewal advice for 80 year old woman in nursing home

[Juliette]

Hi,

I hope you can help me with my query:

Renewal date was: 8.11.16. Current plan is VHI Health Plus Extra. Renewal quote is 2,506.15

My 80 year old aunt, a single woman & no children, is in a nursing home for over two years after suffering from a stroke. It has left her with poor mobility and little speech. However, she has an understanding of her situation. She is generally quite healthy for her age with no health complications. She has this plan a very long time and she utilised it about 5 years ago when she had a benign tumour removed from her brain. She was very grateful to have this plan at the time - due to the hospital costs, scans, etc. Other than that, she never needed to use it. She believed in having a good policy as she was independent and it gave her peace of mind.

She has been a VHI member for 30+ years, and is reluctant to change provider unnecessarily. However, she asked me to see if this is the best plan for her given her new situation living in the nursing home. Her nursing home is in a Midlands town, 10 minutes from a general hospital and an 1.30hr drive from any hospital in Dublin.

She wants to know if her money could be used better? She will need to decide which plan is best for her needs, by the end of the month.

I appreciate your opinions.

Thanks in advance.
J

 

[snowyb]

Hi Juliette,

Welcome to AAM. Unfortunately, if your aunt wants to change plan she will have to wait until 8th November 2017, her next renewal date.
VHI do not allow switching to another plan mid term. They would impose a charge which would defeat the purpose of saving money.

Plans to consider for next November as follows, note there is no guarantee regarding prices staying the same until then;
1. Health Plus Access; price 2045pa; all public, private and 3 hi-tech hospitals covered, no excess.
2. Health Plus Excess; price 1799pa; all public, private and 3 hi-tech hospitals covered, 75 euro excess only payable if she is admitted
to a private or hi-tech hospital for a stay or day case. There is no excess to pay in any public hospital.
3. Health Access; price 1645pa; all public, private and 3 hi-tech hospitals covered, 125 excess to pay for admission or day case in a private
or hi-tech hospital.

[broken link removed]

Regards, Snowyb