VHI One Plan Extra .... alternatives

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Ger1966

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My sister retired earlier this year and her health insurance is due for renewal on January 1 2019. She (and her husband) have VHI "One Plan Extra" plan. Her premium was deducted from her salary when she was working and it's now being deducted from her pension. When she retired, I was telling her that she should look around for cheaper health insurance. She was keen on this idea and asked me to remind her about this before her renewal was up.

While she was on holidays a few weeks ago in Spain she had a minor slip so she had to go to the hospital. Thankfully it was nothing serious and VHI covered all of her expenses. Now that it's coming close to renewal time, and her experience with VHI was "exceptional" (her words), she's a bit reluctant to move from VHI or even to move plans. I'm trying to explain to her that all insurance providers would provide the same cover to her, but she's not fully convinced. However, I feel that if I could show her that she'd save some money by changing plans, and even providers, that she might reconsider.

What would people recommend as an alternative to VHI One Plan Extra? Their main priority would be good cover in a private hospital with not much of an excess.
 
Hi Ger1966,

It just so happens that VHI have a new plan on the market that would tick all the boxes required in your sisters case.
The plan she is on at the moment 'One Plan Extra', has no excess for private hospital admissions or day case procedures and is the cheapest plan
on the market with no excess.
However, VHI has a new plan called 'PMI 7 10' which has a maximum excess per year for all private hospital or hi-tech hospital admissions,
which is 150 per year. You just pay 150 for the first private/hi-tech admission and all subsequent admissions are free.
The day case excess is 50 per procedure in private hospitals or hi-tech hospitals.
There is no excess to pay in any public hospital.

Plan details as follows;
VHI PMI 7 10; price 1188pa; all public, private and 3 hi-tech hospitals covered, private or hi-tech excess 150 for the first admission only, all
subsequent admissions are free in a year. Day case excess is 50 per procedure in private or hi-tech hospitals. There is good day to day cover
on this plan, with a 1 euro excess which means you are in a refund position straight away, even with 1 or 2 gp visits. 50% refund for
consultant visits, gp, etc. This is better day to day cover than her current plan which has a 100 excess before a refund applies.
Otherwise, this plan has the same cover as One Plan Extra at a cheaper price.

[broken link removed]

This is the first time that VHI have issued this particular type of plan - with a capped max excess for private admissions, including hi-tech hospital cover.
Other capped plans like One Plan 150, One Plan 250, One Plan 500 just cover public and private hospitals.
They are competing with Laya plans Simply Connect, Simply Connect Plus and Simplicity plan which are a few years on the market.

I wouldn't expect her to switch companies, when she is delighted with her personal experience of VHI when it mattered.
This experience is based on their travel insurance as well as health insurance which will not change on the new plan PMI 7 10.

I will be recommending this new plan to a few family members with VHI. Its well
worth considering as an alternative option.

Regards, Snowyb
 
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Hi Snowyb,

Am wondering if this (VHI PMI 7) might be worth consideration in my case also. 42 year old healthy female, no dependents. I currently have Laya ConnectCare150 and find it expensive.
Like everyone, looking for a decent level of cover- hi-tech hospitals etc, but happy to consider an excess.

Thanks
 
ciaran1,

Yes, VHI PMI 07 10 is well worth considering in your case. Just to point out, the plan you're on at the moment Connectcare 150 fully covers a
private room in a private hospital. PMI 07 10 would have a shortfall per night of 200 or 300+ for a private room. It fully covers a semi-private
(shared room) in a private hospital. The likes of Blackrock Clinic doesn't have shared wards, so you would be covered for a private single room
on PMI 07 10 as standard. If private room cover is not a priority, PMI 07 10 is a good plan.

[broken link removed]


Alternative Laya plan with private room cover is Simplicity @ price 1231pa. Note the day to day cover, the first 100 is not allowed on this plan.
Alternative Laya plan with no private room cover is Simply Connect @ price 1100pa.

[broken link removed]

Regards, Snowyb
 
Hi Snowyb. My sister called VHI this morning and the customer agent she was talking to said that the PMI 7 10 plan was discontinued and suggested that my sister consider the One Plan option instead. Hopefully the VHI rep wasn't being "economical" with the truth here because I went to the VHI website just now and was able to get a quote for 2 adults for the PMI 7 10 plan. I wasn't able to put in a start date of January 1 2019, so I just selected a date in early December instead. In your first reply, you said that it was a new plan so hopefully, the rep made a mistake regarding the availability of this plan.

I asked my sister if she got the plan name mixed up i.e. said PMI 10 7 rather than PMI 7 10, but she said she didn't. I've asked her to call again where hopefully she'll get to speak to a different customer agent. I'll update the post with how she gets on.
 
Sorted! My sister called again on Saturday morning and signed up to PMI 7 10 and will be saving over €500 for almost identical cover. Not sure what happened exactly when she called previously, but it's sorted now. Thanks again Snowyb!
 
Ger1966,
So delighted to hear that it's worked out ok. For a minute I thought VHI were up to their old tricks again with the corporate plans.
In the old days, they used to bring out a new corporate plan for 2 months, to suit the multi-national companies renewal dates and then cancel it,
so that it would limit the amount of people availing of the corporate price. It used to really annoy people if their renewal date was outside that
2 month window of opportunity.
It was probably an inexperienced person who took the first phone call.
All's well that ends well!

Snowyb
 
Hi snowyb, quick question for you, if you don't mind.

My sister submitted a receipt for physio but she was told that she'd have to wait 26 weeks for cover to start. As she just moved plans with VHI, I didn't think there'd be a waiting period.

I've downloaded the Table of Benefits for her old plan (One Plan Extra) and her new plan (PMI 07 10), and both have the same cover for Physiotherapist i.e. €25 per visit. The table of benefits that I printed for One Plan Extra was effective for renewals on or after March 2 2019. Could it be that physio cover of €25 per visit has been added to this plan and wasn't part of her plan, so hence the 26 weeks waiting period?

It's not a big deal for her as she still made a saving by switching, but I'm wondering if you've seen or heard of this before?
 
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