Just a quick word on cancellations and direct debits, if you cancel a direct debit mid term the insurer may ask for the remainder of the premium or cancellation fee but this is never pursued
Yeah that's pretty much it, if you stop the direct debit you'll get calls/letters from them asking for the premium balance or cancellation fee but they don't take it any further than this.
Then, if you were to go back to them in the future and provide the same details they'd ask for the outstanding premiums.
So what do people do if they get a job with health insurance included?
I see that the HIA says about Laya "Laya healthcare contracts are for a period of one year unless they agree to a different period when starting your policy" . Do they actually insure for periods of less than a year?
In the case of people getting jobs with health insurance it's just easier to see out the period with your current insurer and at renewal move to the companys scheme.
They could agree to different periods if they wanted to, but as far as I know no insurer currently practices this