Health Insurance Advice Needed: Family Plan

[jojoebloggs70]

Hello everyone. I’m looking for some advice as to whether there are alternative plans to the one I’m currently on. I’m on Simply Connect Plus, two adults (+30 and in good health) and a <5 month old.

I’ve been looking at Inspire and One Plus from VHI for comparisons but I understand that all of Laya’ plans are due to increase in price. Our current Laya plan is going up to €280 a month and I’m wondering if there is a better alternative to this plan. The only thing we have claimed on this plan in the last year was doctors and osteopath visits for myself and the baby. Therefore I’d be looking for a cheaper alternative to Simple Connect Plus with good outpatient benefits.

If you could let me know what you think, I’d be really grateful for your insight as I’m a bit dizzy from the HIA site.
Thanks

 

[Riomhaire]

Hello everyone. I’m looking for some advice as to whether there are alternative plans to the one I’m currently on. I’m on Simply Connect Plus, two adults (+30 and in good health) and a <5 month old.

I’ve been looking at Inspire and One Plus from VHI for comparisons but I understand that all of Laya’ plans are due to increase in price. Our current Laya plan is going up to €280 a month and I’m wondering if there is a better alternative to this plan. The only thing we have claimed on this plan in the last year was doctors and osteopath visits for myself and the baby. Therefore I’d be looking for a cheaper alternative to Simple Connect Plus with good outpatient benefits.

If you could let me know what you think, I’d be really grateful for your insight as I’m a bit dizzy from the HIA site.
Thanks

Hi Jojoebloggs70,

Your current plan Simply Connect Plus is a very good plan. However the fact that it cover Orthopaedics makes it more attractive to those like myself who are twice your age.

Inspire is also an excellent plan that ticks all the boxes that you mentioned in your post. The big difference is that there is a 20% shortfall for
Orthopaedics with this plan. Given that you both are in your thirties hopefully orthopaedics are not an issue for either of you.

Accommodation wise it covers up to semi-private in private hospitals just like your current plan. The everyday expenses benefits are
broadly similar also. Osteopath visits are also covered up to ten visits per member with a 50% rebate.

If your renewal date is after 1st June Inspire will cost your family €235 per month for the coming year. That is a saving of €540 for this year.

The One+Plan you mentioned does not seem to cover Osteopath visits. it also has an excess of €250 on everyday medical expenses which effectively means that you would have to spend €500 on these before you can claim back anything.

I hope this is helpful.

​

 

[jojoebloggs70]

Hi Jojoebloggs70,

Your current plan Simply Connect Plus is a very good plan. However the fact that it cover Orthopaedics makes it more attractive to those like myself who are twice your age.

Inspire is also an excellent plan that ticks all the boxes that you mentioned in your post. The big difference is that there is a 20% shortfall for
Orthopaedics with this plan. Given that you both are in your thirties hopefully orthopaedics are not an issue for either of you.

Accommodation wise it covers up to semi-private in private hospitals just like your current plan. The everyday expenses benefits are
broadly similar also. Osteopath visits are also covered up to ten visits per member with a 50% rebate.

If your renewal date is after 1st June Inspire will cost your family €235 per month for the coming year. That is a saving of €540 for this year.

The One+Plan you mentioned does not seem to cover Osteopath visits. it also has an excess of €250 on everyday medical expenses which effectively means that you would have to spend €500 on these before you can claim back anything.

I hope this is helpful.

​

Many thanks for your detailed reply Riomhaire, much appreciated. In fairness to the Simply Connect Plus I agree with you that it’s a good plan. Just looking around at other options. Thanks again

 

[Starrynights]

Hi Jojoebloggs70,

Riomhaire mentioned many good points. I would add that a lot of the shortfalls for certain special orthopedic/opthalmic procedures ( and in VHI's case certain fixed price procedures FPP's) are often waived by some hospitals on a case by case basis. Blackrock clinic often do this and have cover section on their website where you can input your plan and see what's covered. Mater Private are known to do it as well. This is means that if cover for these procedures is a low priority for you, you may still be able to get these surgeries done without a shortfall passed onto you whilst enjoying the savings of the cheaper plan. However nothing is guaranteed so you need to assess this risk for yourself.

Something that may be of interest to you is cover for minor injury clinics. In my opinion many VHI plans are superior for this if you live near a swiftcare clinic. Advantage to Laya is the ability to use third party clinics.

Inspire is overall quite a good plan. If you are interested in switching to VHI and also make a saving, you might want to look at Company Plan Plus Level 1.3 or similar. These have the shortfalls discussed above. Compared to the Inspire plan it has 50% back on day to day without a max cap on individual visits. Eg. Unlimited visits to the osteopath vs a limit of 10.
For swiftcare cover, the initial visit is €50. Then all follow up costs eg, x-ray, cast etc is covered at 50% with a max payment of €100. This means regardless of the total bill the max you pay is €150. Atm you get €175 off the total bill and with Inspire you get €150 off the bill

If you only make a couple of GP/Osteopath visits and have very little other day to day expenses you could look at Enhanced care 150 day to day for further savings but this has much poorer Swiftcare cover and few caveats with outpatient consultant visits and black rock/mater private Dublin not covered. It depends on when you renew as atm there is not a large difference in price between this plan and Inspire. However once the price of Laya plans go up next month the savings may be worth it to you.

Best of luck!