Health Insurance How to save on your health insurance plan - David McCullagh/Dermot Goode

Brendan Burgess said:
Can you give us a summary?
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The usual standard advice on when you get your renewal to ring up your health insurer, tell them your budget and let them do the work to get you similar cover for a cheaper rate.

Worst thing to do is to auto renew especially on VHI older policies that have been around for many years. Elderly people especially are afraid to change their cover. Younger relatives could possibly review their cover with them over Christmas and often all it takes is one phone call to insurer and discuss cheaper options for similar cover.

Not everyone in family needs to be on same plan.

Corporate plans which are very good are available to all.

Young family not getting free or discounted rate for children under 18 are overpaying.

People thinking of getting health insurance for 1st time companies are bringing in new plans at lower prices. Prices could be:

Entry level plan - €500
Good mid-level - €1,000 to €1,200

and two good deals aimed at younger market at moment

Level Health Plan B 300 = €1,027

Laya Access Health = €1,050.



Specific enquiries by text sent to programme:

Someone insured with Laya on Simplicity costing €2,790 presently who is over 65 and wanting to retain their ortho/ophth for something cheaper.

Recommendation is for Prosper Advance also with Laya which has better cover and €2,563. One of the best private room cover policies and they will get to keep their ortho/ophth.

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One insured who is with VHI has Enhanced Care 350 Day to Day which is €102 per month which they feel is too much to spend on health insurance at 31 years of age.

Recommendation is if they are not too worried about day to day reimbursements maybe Plan B 300 or Access Health schemes with Laya with a saving of approx €280 and still very good cover.

There are other cheaper policies with VHI but not recommended.

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Caller who is a fit, single 58 year old and has needed quite a number of MRIs over the past number of years. They are on VHI PMI 5210 at €1,559 and wants to make sure that they retain their MRI cover but something cheaper.

Recommendation is firstly that you should always check with your insurer to ensure that the scan centre is on the approved list. It is a good corporate plan.

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Next caller a 72 year old widower on PMI 3613 with renewal next March costing €1,895.

The rates will most likely change with VHI as they have done for the past 3 years on 1st March so this may need to be reviewed again possibly in Jan/Feb but Laya Prosper Care at €1,840 which has good private room cover and 75% of day to day expenses cover might be an option.

VHI for last 3 years increase on 1st March
Laya increases generally on 1st April
Irish Life increases generally on 1st January.

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Caller with Irish Life Horizon 2 with 2 adults and two children under 11 looking for cheaper policy.

Recommendation is that present policy is a step down from 4D Health 2 which is €2452. Their plan is about €1,887 per adult. One of the concerns about the Horizon plans is that they have an excess or shortfall on pretty much all cardiac procedures. It is one of the few policies out there where they are not covered for cardiac cover. If that is a concern then they need to review their plan.

On 1st Jan Laya Healthcare will put an offer into the market where you pay for the 1st child under 18 and the 2nd child is free. So right now they are probably paying about €400 per child. If they contact Laya today they could check out a plan like Inspire Plus which is €1,786 per adult. They will save about €100 per adult and they will get the 2nd child for free. So they are going to save about €600 in total.

Recommend possibly Inspire Plus for Mam, Dad and eldest child and a plan called Laya called Flex 125 Explore which is free from 1st January. This option could overall save them €600 and they will be fully covered for cardiac.
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Caller on Plan D for over 40 years where the couple are in their 70s and need the orthopaedic cover for in-hospital stay.

Recommendation: Plan D with VHI is gone and VHI moved everybody so they are probably on a plan called Premium Care which costs €5,331 each. People should only be on that plan if you will only go into Blackrock hospital or Mater Private in Dublin and you want a private room cover there.

If they are just looking for the full orthopaedic cover checkout Premium Care Select which is €400 cheaper each and you still stay with VHI. Another plan to check out with VHI is the old B Options and it is called Advanced Care Extra Day to Day and is €3,880 and a lot of Dermot Goode's clients when they viewed this other plan they like the benefits, they keep their full orthopaedic cover and they would save €3,000 between the two of them. They will still stay with VHI and they will have superb cover.

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Caller with family of 6, Mum and Dad in their 50s, with 4 children, 17 year old (coeliac), 12, 11 and 8 on Laya Essential Connect Family with renewal in January. Are their better options for their family?

Recommendation is that if Mum and Dad are covered on this policy it is far too expensive for them at €2,488 per adult which is too expensive for the benefits on that plan. Laya Inspire Plus for the Mum and Dad and eldest child and if they like that plan they are going to save close to €1,500. They are already getting the free cover for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th child as it is one of the plans that Laya tends to put on offer.

Put Mum and Dad on the better plan and leave the other children on that plan and continue to get the free cover for them.

The Essential connect Family scheme is an old dated plan and not the best value for money.

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Caller 61 year old male in really good health says he might be able to afford private health insurance for the first time in his life and is looking for any advice.

Recommendation is that anyone can join at any age and they will have the same waiting periods despite their age and they can have any plan on the market. The only challenge for this person is the age loadings that were introduced back in 2015. But because they are 61 they are going to have 54% of an age loading. So if a plan is recommended and it is a €1,000 it is going to cost them €1,500 and that loading stays with them for the next 10 years. If they are thinking about joining check out the mid-level schemes like Plan B 300 with Level Health and Access Health with Laya which are all around €1,000. If they want to go with VHI the Enhanced Care 350 at €1,187 and Irish Life My Plan 350 which is €1,150.

It is definitely worth looking at joining it is worth considering but a lot of older people find the loadings too much.

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73 year old woman wants to know what could she replace Simply Connect with.

Recommendation: Laya Simply Connect Corporate plan which is €2,483. If they want to keep full cover for the hips, knees and shoulders they are on the right plan but Prosper Advanced with Laya might be an option which is much the same money but far better cover.

For anybody who is on Simply Connect with Laya or Simply Connect Plus if they are not worried about having a hip, knee, shoulder or cataract replaced in the next few years they are over-insured and they should check out Prosper Care plan with Laya at €1,735 and if they like that plan they could save €700 per year, stay with the same company and still have superb overall cover.

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Caller who is on chemo at moment so afraid to switch and am on Advanced Care 50 Day to Day.

Recommendation: They have very good cover with VHI and it is €2,788. Dermot Goode always says to people if you are in the middle of treatment and your plan is working for you, you don't really want to be changing your cover until your treatment is finished. But if that person is under pressure to reduce their costs then suggestion is engage with VHI straight away, tell them which hospital they are getting their treatment in and what type of treatment is and let VHI know their budget and VHI will be able tell what lower cost options will give them the exact cover they need without having to change insurance company.

In fairness the insurance companies are very good in these situation and have the Vulnerable Customer policy if somebody is struggling to pay their premium and is in the middle of treatment they will try and accommodate you as best they can.

If they want to save money right now a plan worth looking at with VHI is PMI 4810 at €2,131 is a superb private room corporate plan and if they like that plan they could save €700 and still be covered for their chemotherapy.

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Caller was with Irish Life and swapped to Irish Life My Plan 350 Day to Day. Swapped for better maternity benefits but realising there are very few for a nearly 30% price increase. In good health, aged 31.

Recommendation: People need to be very careful because if you shop or base your cover on cost alone without engaging with the insurance companies and getting them to explain what the benefit differentials are you can often get caught out.

They should phone Irish Life because they allow cover to be amended during year. One recommendation is Health Action 1 is €1,300. For an extra €150 they may be able to upgrade their cover quite significantly. Give Irish Life their details about hospital and consultant and Irish Life will tell them exactly what plan they should be on.

They could also check out a new range of corporate plan called Health Action 1 and Health Action 2 and this is where they should start with.

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A lot of this information available on www.hia.ie
 
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