Health Insurance VHI International switching to domestic policy (2 part problem)

dovetail

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Background:
I am currently on a VHI International policy. Even though my permanent address is in Ireland and I am tax resident in Ireland, I cannot get a domestic policy because all work trips spent outside of Ireland over each year cumulatively pass the 6 month mark. As my policy currently stands, when I am in Ireland, I cannot be in the country more than 60 days to satisfy the policy requirements. If I pass 60 continuous days in Ireland I must switch to a domestic policy. I was 36 years of age when I joined VHI International in 2014. I did not have any health insurance prior to this. VHI advised me yesterday that the International Policy does not qualify for

Current Situation:
Part 1:
All work trips have been cancelled for the foreseeable future. I have now passed the 60 day period and I have cancelled the domestic policy. In Pre-covid-19times, I would have had to take out a domestic policy at the same time for continuity in cover and to avoid waiting periods. Given the current situation with private hospitals now being operated as public hospitals, I don't believe its worth switching to / taking out a domestic policy. After cancelling the International policy yesterday, VHI advised me that I have 30 days to take out a domestic policy to ensure continuity of cover and avoid resetting of waiting periods. But I read in other posts that 13 week gap is allowable before waiting periods are reset.
Part 2: When I inquired about switching to a domestic policy, I was advised that my 6 years on the International policy WOULD NOT be taken into account for age related loading factor, and that a 16% loading factor would be applied if I were to take out a domestic policy. I am pretty sure that at the time of taking out the international policy in 2014, that I was advised that the years on that policy would be taken into account if I was ever to switch to a domestic policy. (Because of the changes that were coming inot force in 2015, I made it a priority to join health insurance in 2014, and if my memory serves me correctly, I made a point of making sure that asked about getting credits). VHI say they will now have to go back to the telephone tapes to see what advice was given to me at that time.

Q1. Given the current situation with private hospitals, Should I wait 13 weeks before taking out a new policy? or should I take out the most basic policy available for now to protect my zero years waiting period?
Q2. As a permanent tax resident in Ireland, who could not access domestic policies because of the level of business travel required by my Irish employer, I believe that it’s my entitlement to get age related loading credits for each year paid on the International policy. I plan to contact the HIA about this and I hope that they will support my claim to get credits. Does anybody else out there have any experience or suggestions based on this scenario?

Apologies if that all is all a bit long winded.! Just trying to give the full picture of my case. Thanks in advance for any answers and advice.
 
Last edited:
Did some further research today and found the answers :)

1. 13 weeks only applies for periods between domestic policies. not periods between international policies. I will take out a basic domestic policy.
2. HIA confirmed that VHI International policies do not qualify for lifetime community rating credits whether resident in ireland or not.
 
Did some further research today and found the answers :)

1. 13 weeks only applies for periods between domestic policies. not periods between international policies. I will take out a basic domestic policy.
2. HIA confirmed that VHI International policies do not qualify for lifetime community rating credits whether resident in ireland or not.

Was there any reason as to why they don't qualify?
It seems very strange considering every other insurance does
 
Was there any reason as to why they don't qualify?
It seems very strange considering every other insurance does

The HIA replied back to me with the details in italics below. It seems that the HIA view a VHI International policy as a standard travel insurance policy, which in my opinion is wrong, its more than a standard travel insurance policy.

''Travel insurance policies do not contribute to the Risk Equalisation Fund and as such periods of cover on travel insurance plans or any health plans held outside the State are not taken into account for the purposes of calculating loadings under Lifetime Community Rating Regulations. Such plans do not comply with health insurance legislation or the key principles of community rating, open enrolment, lifetime cover and minimum benefit, on which the Irish health insurance regulatory system is based.

As policies such as VHI International do not meet this legislative requirement, persons holding that policy while travelling/working abroad are subject to Lifetime Community Rating rules if they choose to take out voluntary health insurance on return to Ireland as a permanent resident, the person's PAYE contributions are not taken into account.''


Its a complete oversight by the HIA and Dept of Health for Irish citizens who are on secondment or who do a lot of business travel to carry out their job. I discovered some interesting reading here: http://www.irishhealthinsurance.ie/...-a-loading-on-their-health-insurance-premium/

As it turned out last week, VHI would waive the loading fees on the domestic policy that I switched to because technically I was not in the country at the time the legislation was introduced on 1st may 2015!
 
The HIA replied back to me with the details in italics below. It seems that the HIA view a VHI International policy as a standard travel insurance policy, which in my opinion is wrong, its more than a standard travel insurance policy.

''Travel insurance policies do not contribute to the Risk Equalisation Fund and as such periods of cover on travel insurance plans or any health plans held outside the State are not taken into account for the purposes of calculating loadings under Lifetime Community Rating Regulations. Such plans do not comply with health insurance legislation or the key principles of community rating, open enrolment, lifetime cover and minimum benefit, on which the Irish health insurance regulatory system is based.

As policies such as VHI International do not meet this legislative requirement, persons holding that policy while travelling/working abroad are subject to Lifetime Community Rating rules if they choose to take out voluntary health insurance on return to Ireland as a permanent resident, the person's PAYE contributions are not taken into account.''


Its a complete oversight by the HIA and Dept of Health for Irish citizens who are on secondment or who do a lot of business travel to carry out their job. I discovered some interesting reading here: http://www.irishhealthinsurance.ie/...-a-loading-on-their-health-insurance-premium/

As it turned out last week, VHI would waive the loading fees on the domestic policy that I switched to because technically I was not in the country at the time the legislation was introduced on 1st may 2015!


It is Irish based insurance and should count towards it.

I know many people abroad using this from Ireland and have no idea that it is not recognized.

Any chance of getting this changed do you think?
 
It is Irish based insurance and should count towards it.

I know many people abroad using this from Ireland and have no idea that it is not recognized.

Any chance of getting this changed do you think?

The chance is always there. But the priority or the will might not.

I guess the more people that contact the HIA about this issue, then the better the chance that a change like this could be moved up the priority list the next time the legislation is amended. (or to encourage the legislation to be changed sooner).

Apparently VHI are the only Irish based provider for full international health cover. I would hazard a guess that the majority of the members on the VHI international plan do not know that this plan does not qualify for age related community rating credits. Unless VHI makes a point of communicating this fact to new members, then most will only discover this issue when they return to Ireland / switch back to a domestic policy at some future point. If this was known at the point of membership purchase, I wonder how many people would still proceed to choose VHI Intl when other options exist for international cover from non-irish providers?!
 
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