Hi Ria123,
Welcome to AAM.
Firstly, an excess on a plan does not mean less hospital cover, all medical conditions are covered regardless of having an excess or not.
An excess just means that if you are admitted to a private hospital for a stay/surgery/treatment, you pay a set amount only on admission, it is NOT a nightly charge. Your current plan 'Complete Simplicity' has an excess included, capped at 100 x 2 max per year for all admissions. Day case excess 50 per procedure.
The ideal type of plan is to have a plan with a capped max excess per year.
So, if you have 10 private hospital admissions per year, your excess is capped at a specific amount and will not go over that figure. For example, Simplicity plan; excess capped at 100 x 2 per year or Connect Simplicity plan; excess capped at 150 x 2 per year.
So, if you have no private hospital admissions, then you have the benefit of a cheaper priced plan without losing hospital cover.
There is no excess to pay in any public hospital.
Options; (for yourself)
1. Laya Connect Simplicity; price 1304pa; all public, private(including private room fully covered), and 3 hi-tech hospitals covered. Private hospital excess capped at 150 x 2 max for all private hospital admissions per year, regardless of how many. Day case excess 100 per procedure. There is no excess to pay in any public hospital. Good day to day cover on this plan, 50% refund for gp, consultants, dental, etc.
2. Laya Simplicity; price 1231pa; all public, private(including private room fully covered), and 3 hi-tech hospitals covered. Private hospital excess capped at 100 x 2 max for all private hospital admissions per year, regardless of how many. Day case excess 50 per procedure. There is no excess to pay in any public hospital. Good day to day cover included, 50% refund for gp, consultant, dental, etc - the first 100 not allowed.
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Child Options; Total health Select plan is much too expensive for kids, there are a few alternatives without losing any cover, as follows;
1. Laya Connect Simplicity; price 304pa; all public, private(including private room fully covered), and 3 hi-tech hospitals covered. Private hospital excess capped at 150 x 2 max for all private hospital admissions per year, regardless of how many. Day case excess 100 per procedure. There is no excess to pay in any public hospital. Good day to day cover on this plan, 50% refund for gp, consultants, dental, etc.
2. Laya Simply Connect Plus; price 280pa; all public, private(no private room) and 3 hi-tech hospitals covered, private hospital excess capped at 150 x 1 per year for all private hospital admissions, regardless of how many. There is no excess to pay in any public hospital. Good day to day cover included, 50% refund for gp, consultant visits, dental, optical etc. No excess plan with VHI, children can be insured with VHI on their own if you want. You can still choose Laya.
3. VHI Company Plan Extra Level 1; price 377pa; all public, private(no private room) and 3 hi-tech hospitals covered. No excess on this plan. Good day to day cover included, 75% refund for gp visits, consultants, etc.
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NOTE; For the price of Total Health Select plan, the children can have a top-rated plan with full private room cover for Mater Private and Blackrock Clinic which are in Dublin which is of no use as you're based in Cork. Laya Connect Simplicity plan would have all this cover including the private room in Mater Private Cork which is classed as a private hospital, not hi-tech for health insurance purposes.
Details as follows to show the comparison; Child options;
4. Laya Empower Create No Excess; price 522pa; all public, private and hi-tech hospitals covered upto private room level across the board, no excess on this plan, good day to day cover included, refund of 80 per consultant visit, 30 per gp visit, etc.
5. Laya Empower Secure No Excess; price 580pa; all public, private and hi-tech hospitals covered upto private room level across the board, no excess on this plan, good day to day cover included, refund of 100 per consultant visit, 40 per gp visit etc.
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80 year+ Mum Options
There are 3 alternative options to consider, details as follows; myself I would be inclined to opt for 3. Simplicity plan which ticks all the boxes and reduces the cost considerably without losing any cover.
1. Laya 360 Care; price 2046pa; all public, private(including private room fully covered) + 3 hi-tech hospitals covered, no excess on this plan, good day to day cover included 75% refund for gp, consultants, physio etc.
2. Laya 360 Care Select; price 1847pa; all public, private(including private room fully covered) + 3 hi-tech hospitals covered, no excess to pay on the first 3 private hospital admissions or day cases per year. If you have 4+ admissions or day case the excess is 150 per admission or per day case. There is never any excess to pay in any public hospital. Good day to day cover included, 75% refund for all medical expenses.
3. Laya Simplicity; price 1231pa; all public, private(including private room fully covered), and 3 hi-tech hospitals covered. Private hospital excess capped at 100 x 2 max for all private hospital admissions per year, regardless of how many. Day case excess 50 per procedure. There is no excess to pay in any public hospital. Good day to day cover included, 50% refund for gp, consultant, dental, etc - the first 100 not allowed.
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Lots of alternative options to make savings without losing cover.
Regards, Snowyb