Health Insurance Irish life 4D Health 2

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johnl68

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Hello,

I'm currently on Irish life 4D Health 2 @€1,315.40 renewal date for 1st April. Is there a similar plan that's better value? I'm based close to Galway so access to Galway clinic & Bons Secours would be important. I've stayed with Irish life for a few years now, just changing plan with their suggestions.
I've looked at laya Simply connect which appears to be adequate, also has access to a minor jnjury clinic in Galway.

Any advice appreciated, thanks
John
 
we actually moved from Laya simply connect to this irish life plan. They offered more benefits and procedures. Think it’s 100 euro more expensive. But worth it if u might benefit from any other the procedures covered.
 
cmalone said:
we actually moved from Laya simply connect to this irish life plan. They offered more benefits and procedures. Think it’s 100 euro more expensive. But worth it if u might benefit from any other the procedures covered.
Click to expand...
That's interesting to hear.
It's actually about €100 more expensive than last year and a lot of advice is to shop around or risk paying too much unnecessarily. I don't mind renewing it if it's still considered a good plan. Thanks for the reply.
 
Not too very long back I previously worked in a brokers. We sold health insurance as a side line and were tied exclusively to Irish Life Health on the health insurance. In fairness the 4D Health 2 plan is a very decent plan all round.

One thing to be very mindful of is that there is a €2,000 co-payment on certain orthopaedic procedures (I always took this as a ploy to keep older people off their books). These procedures can cost many multiples of €2,000 and I heard of cases of patients getting the €2,000 co-payment waived - the reason being that a surgeon will not see you walk away through the door for quick money versus a public system patient where there may be a longer wait on payment. This may not always be the case though - I have heard of people having to make the €2,000 co-payment too - may be down to how busy the surgeon is and your own bargaining skills. All above possibly irrelevant if you don't foresee any claim from an orthopaedic procedure but quite often very relevant for older people in particular.

Another poster mentioned the Laya Healthcare Simply Connect plan. In fairness it probably does stack up very well against the 4D Health 2 plan and is about €85 cheaper for an adult with no LCR loading. You would loose the likes of having the travel insurance from the free add on packages with the 4D Health 2 plan. Compare the 2 plans side by side on the HIA website which is a very good tool I find in fairness.

Do also bear in mind that many plans across all providers would have got more expensive since your renewal last year.
 
irishstig said:
Not too very long back I previously worked in a brokers. We sold health insurance as a side line and were tied exclusively to Irish Life Health on the health insurance. In fairness the 4D Health 2 plan is a very decent plan all round.

One thing to be very mindful of is that there is a €2,000 co-payment on certain orthopaedic procedures (I always took this as a ploy to keep older people off their books). These procedures can cost many multiples of €2,000 and I heard of cases of patients getting the €2,000 co-payment waived - the reason being that a surgeon will not see you walk away through the door for quick money versus a public system patient where there may be a longer wait on payment. This may not always be the case though - I have heard of people having to make the €2,000 co-payment too - may be down to how busy the surgeon is and your own bargaining skills. All above possibly irrelevant if you don't foresee any claim from an orthopaedic procedure but quite often very relevant for older people in particular.

Another poster mentioned the Laya Healthcare Simply Connect plan. In fairness it probably does stack up very well against the 4D Health 2 plan and is about €85 cheaper for an adult with no LCR loading. You would loose the likes of having the travel insurance from the free add on packages with the 4D Health 2 plan. Compare the 2 plans side by side on the HIA website which is a very good tool I find in fairness.

Do also bear in mind that many plans across all providers would have got more expensive since your renewal last year.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that Irishstig. I won't be needing orthopaedic unless something catastrophic happens thankfully, i actually haven't had to claim much at all(just 1 gp visit in previous 12 months), but still would not be without cover.
 
Hi johnl68,

As you are based in the west of Ireland, I would consider a plan which covers all public and private hospitals, including Galway Clinic and
Bons Secours Galway. The following 2 plans are worth considering;

1. Irish Life Benefit plan; price 965pa; all public + private hospitals covered + Beacon hi-tech in Dublin, private excess capped at 200 x 2 max
per year for all private hospital admissions, day case excess 125 per procedure. There is very limited day to day cover on this plan, but the
savings overall will cover a lot of medical expenses if required. There is a 2000 co payment for hip and knee replacment surgery in private hospitals,
which you say is not important at this stage.

2. Laya Essential Health 300; price 996pa; all public + private hospitals covered + Beacon hi-tech in Dublin, private excess capped at 300 x 2 max
per year for all private hospital admissions, day case excess 125 per procedure. There is very limited day to day cover on this plan, but the overall
savings will cover a lot of medical expenses if required. There is full cover for hip and knee replacement surgery in all private hospitals on this plan.

The following Laya plan also includes day to day cover plus it covers the 3 hi-tech hospitals in Dublin - Blackrock Clinic, Beacon and Mater Private.
3. Laya Inspire plan; price 1165(price from 1 April); all public, private and 3 hi-tech hospitals covered, private/hi-tech excess 150 per admission,
day case excess 50 per procedure. Good day to day cover included, 50% refund for gp visits, consultants, etc.
Note; Beacon hospital is fully covered, while there is a 500 excess per NIGHT for Blackrock Clinic and Mater Private.
Blackrock Clinic don't charge this excess amount, so this hospital is fully covered but Mater Private will charge this excess which is too expensive.
There is a 20% shortfall for hip and knee replacement surgery in private hospitals, but this surgery is fully covered in Blackrock Clinic as they waive
the shortfall amount 2k or 3k per surgery.

https://www.hia.ie/comparison-tool/...vY2siOmZhbHNlLCJwbGFuX2RldGFpbF9pZCI6LTF9fV0=

Regards, Snowyb
 
Thanks Snowyb, you always come up with alternatives. I really appreciate you taking the time.
 
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