Is Irish Private Health Insurance cover restricted to Ireland only

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nconroy

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I have a good laya Private Health Insurance plan and my question is, from a medical viewpoint, do I need additional travel insurance when traveling within the EU.

I am aware of the EHCI card and the state medical cover it provides and very good cover it is. Have several times over the years had very good experiance using it..

Just would like to know if private health insurance plans , as a member of the EU, provides the same private health cover in the rest of the EU as in Ireland.

I have searched for an answer on the WWW but this specific topic is not well covered.

Just another question as to the full benefits of EU membership.
 
nconroy said:
I have a good laya Private Health Insurance plan and my question is, from a medical viewpoint, do I need additional travel insurance when traveling within the EU.
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You need to check what exactly is covered by this policy when travelling. The policy document/terms and conditions should clarify. Then you can decide if you need separate travel insurance cover in addition to this and the EHIC.
nconroy said:
I am aware of the EHCI card and the state medical cover it provides and very good cover it is. Have several times over the years had very good experiance using it..
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I presume this mean EHIC?

The European Health Insurance Card

The European Health Insurance Card gives you access to medically necessary, state-provided healthcare during a temporary stay in another EU/EEA country. Find out more.
www.citizensinformation.ie www.citizensinformation.ie
nconroy said:
Just would like to know if private health insurance plans , as a member of the EU, provides the same private health cover in the rest of the EU as in Ireland.
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See above.
 
nconroy said:
Just would like to know if private health insurance plans , as a member of the EU, provides the same private health cover in the rest of the EU as in Ireland.
Click to expand...
In the vast majority of cases it will not be the same cover, and you'll be limited to more emergency type cover while abroad, perhaps with repatriation cover to bring you back here for issues requiring more prolonged treatment. So it will be patch you up and get you home cover rather then rock up to a hospital in France looking for a hip replacement.
 
Make sure you have your EHCI card which will cover most things. Together with private health insurance, you will have enough cover. What you really want cover for is if you get in an accident. You want to be looked after in the country you are in and the cost of an air ambulance to bring you home if that is needed. Like Leo said, you're not going to go to a French hospital for elective surgery.

With medical insurance covered, it is up to you whether you want to insure cancelled flights, loss of suitcases etc. These are things people are more likely to self insure as the costs of replacing won't bankrupt you.
 
Thanks all above for reply.
I have a vested interest in this topic as myself and my wife are in our senior years with existing conditions requiring occasional monitoring.
I suspect a lot of people, young and old, have various existing issues, which if they flared up during travel (EU), would be denied cover by the "EmergencyCover" restrictions in a lot of private health insurance policies.
"An emergency is defined as the onset of an acute illness which is sudden, unforeseen and requires immediate action and which prevents you from returning home to receive treatment."
The "sudden" and " unforeseen" part of the above sentence is my worrying.

My original post had two elements, the actual insurance cover and the EU claim of freedom to provide services.
I feel I now know where I stand regarding exclusions on the private health insurance cover
It looks like the state provided EHCI card is the better cover than private health insurance for EU travel, there is an irony somewhere in this.

​

I have the laya SimplyConnect Plus policy, which provides pretty good cover in Ireland, but only provides cover for emergency issues while travelling, but excludes existing medical conditions. This worries me a bit, thankfully, I do have the EHCI card (thanks ClubMan) which is does not seem to limit it's cover within the EU. In my case it will be Spain.

I would interpret this to mean any existing medical conditions (diabetes, cancers, respiratory, cardiac, etc) are no longer covered once you travel outside Ireland. Irish private health insurance cover is throttled back within the EU.

Thanks again for input.
 
nconroy said:
It looks like the state provided EHCI card is the better cover than private health insurance for EU travel, there is an irony somewhere in this.
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I doubt it since the EHIC (not EHCI) covers public hospitals/care only while private insurance likely also covers private institutions and care.
 
That's what I thought too. "Private insurance likely also covers private institutions and care".

This is the laya wording for "Going Abroad" cover in my health insurance cover.

Going Abroad​

Sometimes things go wrong when we travel away from home. Laya Healthcare offers a range of benefits for emergency hospital treatment across the majority of our schemes such as:

  • Access to a 24 hour emergency helpline. Just call +353 214222204. This number is also available on the Laya Healthcare Member App should you need it while travelling. Please contact this number prior to treatment.
  • Up to 2 million towards the cost of transport abroad or back to Ireland if appropriate treatment isn’t available locally and up to €1,000 towards the cost of bringing back a travelling companion.
  • As an Irish resident you are entitled to get healthcare through the public system in countries of the European Union (EU) European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland if you become ill or injured on a temporary stay there. Find out more about the [broken link removed]
An emergency is defined as the onset of an acute illness which is sudden, unforeseen and requires immediate action and which prevents you from returning home to receive treatment.

It initially states that thing can go wrong when we travel away from home and the offers a range of benefits.
Without stating that these "offers" are covered as part of the existing policy or not.
Then the small print:
It also states that the cover is for "unforeseen" events. Not events the policy currently provides cover for at while at home.
This looks like another get out of jail free option for laya.
 
nconroy said:
Thanks all above for reply.
I have a vested interest in this topic as myself and my wife are in our senior years with existing conditions requiring occasional monitoring.
I suspect a lot of people, young and old, have various existing issues, which if they flared up during travel (EU), would be denied cover by the "EmergencyCover" restrictions in a lot of private health insurance policies.
"An emergency is defined as the onset of an acute illness which is sudden, unforeseen and requires immediate action and which prevents you from returning home to receive treatment."
The "sudden" and " unforeseen" part of the above sentence is my worrying.

My original post had two elements, the actual insurance cover and the EU claim of freedom to provide services.
I feel I now know where I stand regarding exclusions on the private health insurance cover
It looks like the state provided EHCI card is the better cover than private health insurance for EU travel, there is an irony somewhere in this.

​

I have the laya SimplyConnect Plus policy, which provides pretty good cover in Ireland, but only provides cover for emergency issues while travelling, but excludes existing medical conditions. This worries me a bit, thankfully, I do have the EHCI card (thanks ClubMan) which is does not seem to limit it's cover within the EU. In my case it will be Spain.

I would interpret this to mean any existing medical conditions (diabetes, cancers, respiratory, cardiac, etc) are no longer covered once you travel outside Ireland. Irish private health insurance cover is throttled back within the EU.

Thanks again for input.
Click to expand...
My Family are on this plan.
We were in France on holidays a few years ago and my son got very sick during the evening.

We when to A&E ( for kids hospital) Called the laya help number on the ways and gent was very helpful. He asked us the name of the hospital and said in France there would-be A&E charge but laya would cover this under the normal everyday part of the policy. But if our SON needed to be admitted into the hospital it would have been covered under the Policy as per policy but to call them back so they can arrange direct payment if required.

That was just our experience with my Son did not need to be admitted. Laya refunded 50% of the A&E charge with the french invoice, Which came to our home address from France 4 weeks later.


In contrast a few years later we were in Spain and the same SON had a bad turn and we arrived to A&E with EHCI card. But forgot to bring his passport/ID so they would not admit him or treat him without the passport. Once we came back with his passport he was admitted and seen fairly quickly. There was no invoice for this and laya were not involved. But always bring your ID with EHCI card in heat of the moment easy to forget.

In both experiences, French and Spanish A&E seemed very quick I spent more time in Irish GP surgery than both of our experiences. Hope we wont be seeing anymore A&E going forward!

But ring the number in emergency and they should be able to direct you
 
Yes, irbx, I totaly agree, hospital care in Europe is very good, state and private, as your experience proves.
I have had same experience in the Middle East state hospital, the US, several countries in Europe all quick, efficient, no problem with insurance when needed.
Ireland could learn.

I just wonder, for example, if in your example above, someone was admitted with a existing known condition such as asthma how laya would have responded.

My question is a bit political as well as personal.
I was disappointed to see, what to me is a diminution of my private cover outside Ireland, but within the EU. I am old enough to remember all the hype about free movement of goods and services within the EEC when the government of the time was canvassing the country to join.
Then, when Ireland became a member, general insurance, mortgages, etc was not so freely available. Car VRT on imports, is another great example of the cherry picking of the Irish government regarding the benefits the Irish people could access.
 
Like the OH I keep wondering about the need or value of travel insurance which is due for renewal. I'm trying to figure out exactly is covered apart from luggage, missed or delayed flights. The health side is covered by medical insurance.

We did have a medical emergency in France a couple of years ago which was fully including new flights and a nurse escort home to our own door
 
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