VHI Year Contract-no changes allowed

[margaret1]

It would appear that VHI no longer allow a change of plan within a years contract. Plans may only be changed on renewal dates. I imagined with any insurance that the consumer was free to increase/decrease cover as required be it car, house, life insurance etc. Has anyone else come across this situation?

 

[NovaFlare77]

VHI have had that rule in place for some time now, but they may have chosen not to enforce it in the past. See Rules 3B and 4 in the April 2010 rule book, which is the oldest I can find online, but I know it's been there longer than that.

This is in conjunction with [broken link removed] with effect from May 2011:

Vhi Healthcare will be amending their rules booklets on 1 May 2011. The rules will state that non-payment of the policy during the policy contract year will be considered a breach of contract and Vhi will seek recovery of expenses incurred by them as a result of the customer's non-payment. Non-payment of premiums within the first 15 days of the contract will result in non-payment of claims for that policy year and cancellation of the contract by Vhi Healthcare.

VHI seem to be getting very strict with their rules; earlier this year they stopped allowing people to change their renewal date after announcing the price increase.

I can understand stopping mid year changes that would cost them money, but I would have thought upgrades at any time would have been welcome!

I also wonder if that new rule is a way for VHI to stop people transferring to other health insurers mid year?

 

[pj111]

Yes its always been an accepted principle that all health insurers would allow you to change cover or indeed insurer at any stage. Indeed most would even refund the unused portion of the premium. However it has never been legislation that that you could change it at any time. Vhi have certainly put payed to that notion now.

I have no doubt the purpose of the rules ammendment is to stop people transferring. I suspect it's specifically aimed at their corporate clients. This is bad news for all Vhi customers.

Patrick