Having a look at the HIA's website, there are 16 plans that cover a private room in hi tech hospitals, which is what Plan E covers.
The cheapest of these is VHI's Company Plan Executive Excess, for €1,688.89 per adult. This includes a €125 excess per claim in hi tech hospitals. Some of the out-patient cover is quite good, with a €1 excess for cover for GPs (€40 back per visit for 12 visits per year) and consultants (€100 back per visit for 12 visits). There isn't alot of other out-patient benefits, but on Plan E, you out-patient cover has a high excess, so this may not be relevant to you. The next one up is VHI's Company Plan Executive for €1,856.00. It's the same as above, except no excess.
Under open enrolment, vhi can't refuse to move you to these products, even though they have company in the name. You don't even have to be in a group scheme. I think you would be able to switch with a telephone call, but i don't know what VHI's exact process is. You may need to fill in a form or wait till your renewal.
If you want to see the info on the HIA website, do the following (I can't give a direct link):
1) Go to the HIA website and click on Product Comparison tab on the homepage
2) The first question is about accommodation type, so pick private room in a hi-tech hospital
3) You don't have to answer any of the other questions, but if you do, it might narrow down the search again.
4) In either case, click on Search at the bottom of the page.
This will bring back a maximum of 16 plans, including Plan E. With this comparison tool, you can look at the detail of up to three plans at a time, so pick three you want to look at and press compare. If you want to look at more, then use the Back button on your web browser and tick another three plans. Probably no harm to print the info as you go so you can do a side by side comparison at the end.
Something else to consider is whether or not your and/or your partner would use the high tech hospitals enough to justify the cost. With VHI, the Blackrock Clinic and Mater Private are clsased as high tech. Alot of the lower priced plans with VHI and the others will fully cover major heart surgeries and any day case procedures (including chemo and radiotherapy) in the high tech hospitals. You would still retain partial cover in the high tech hospitals for other treatments should you choose to go there. There are also plans that fully cover a semi private room in high tech hospitals, which would be accordingly cheaper.
Hope all of this helps, Happy New Year!!