djtonykirl,
Just to explain, you are half right in your thinking regarding the 5 year waiting time so its not as bad as it seems overall.
The 5 year waiting time relates to hospital treatment only, in respect of any pre-existing illness or condition.
There is no waiting time applied to day to day expenses, for people under 50 yrs of age, even if the visits relate to a pre-existing illness.
So this part of the health insurance plan is allowable from the date she takes out the policy.
Likewise, if you change plans after a year or 2, any extra day to day cover is allowable straight away, no waiting applies for under 50 years,
there is no waiting for higher day to day cover with Laya plans regardless of age.
Day to day medical expenses include outpatient consultant visits, gp visits, dental, physio etc, etc. Prescriptions are not covered.
Any consultant attended must be on an approved list of registered practitioners which is available from each health insurance provider.
The way it works is that you pay upfront for the visits and keep all receipts throughout the year until renewal date comes around and then
send in an annual claim for a refund.
The consultant refund relates only to visits to their private clinic/room. It does not cover a consultants participation in carrying out a medical procedure either in the hospital or as a day case.
For all new customers, there is an initial six month waiting time for any new illnesses that occur after you start a new health insurance policy.
During this 6 months, just accidents and injuries are covered. After the 6 months, all new illnesses arising are fully covered, according to the
level of hospital cover on the policy. The 5 year waiting time is for hospital treatment/surgery only in relation to pre-existing illnesses.
Some plans indicate how many visits to a practitioner are allowed, for example 60 x 7 consultant visits per year with VHI.
Other plans for example some Laya plans allow 50% or 75% refund with no restriction on the amount of visits per year.
The following 3 plans are worth looking at, for a new customer starting off. You could work out a rough estimate of approx refund due based
on the details of each plan re day to day medical expenses, to see which one is best suited overall.
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Note; both Laya plans cover 3 levels of hospital cover, public, private and 3 hi-tech hospitals.
Be Fit 1 does not cover Mater Private or Blackrock Clinic - it fully covers a first consultant visit and 50% of a further 7 visits per year.
Regards, Snowyb