As Towger says, you will be subject to waiting periods again. At present these waiting periods are based on three age brackets: under 55, 55 to 59, and 60 upwards.
There has also been some talk for the last number of years of the introduction of "lifetime community rating". This is how the Health Insurance Authority explain it:
Under the proposed system, an insurer may increase the premium for those that take out insurance for the first time later on in life. This is called a late entry loading. Under this system a 60 year old who took out insurance when they were 25 will pay the same premium as a 25 year old, but a 60 year old who takes out insurance for the first time may be charged more.
It is proposed that the late entry loadings will not apply to people who have health insurance cover when this regulation comes into effect, or those who take out cover before the proposed age of 30 and maintain it.
What it means for you is that,
IF this is introduced, you may end up paying a higher premium than if you had maintained it. Of course, compare this to how much money you'd have to spend to maintain cover and it may still be worthwhile cancelling. It's also envisaged (but not guaranteed) that there would be a phase in period whereby the new system would be announced a few months before it would take effect.
Another alternative is to switch to the lowest cost plan out there and upgrade when things improve. I believe it's currently Quinn's Essential Starter and costs €380 at the moment, but check the health insurers to see what they offer. this way, you'd still maintain some cover should you want to use private healthcare if something unexpected crops up. When you upgrade in the future, you still have an upgrade waiting period but this is presently 2 years and only applies to the
additional cover the new plan would give you for
conditions present before you upgraded. No other waiting periods would apply to hospital cover, even if you were switching to another insurer at the time.
Hope this all helps. It's all based on the current system and rules, so things may radically change in the future, but I don't forsee that happening anytime soon.
EDIT: Have you looked around at other health insurers/ health insurance plans to see if you can make savings?