VHI Policy advice for family with cancer survivor child

[culabula]

Hi there, would appreciate some advice from you knowledgeable people as renewal time looms.

We've a family of four and have been on VHI OnePlan for the last 2 years, haven't claimed a thing.

Our son is 7 and had a serious form of cancer, he was successfully treated and is in remission now a year. This was irrelevant as regards our health insurance, because he got a 5 year medical card as soon as he was diagnosed. He was in treatment for about a year and still has follow ups every 3 months at Crumlin.

No other health issues in the family, the rest of us just have GP visits now & again, maybe one or two a year for the odd chest infection or whatnot. We're both 40 - I'm self employed & husband does a professional job which can sometimes be quite manual in nature, so he may well need things like physio or treatment of joint issues at some time in the future.

Initially I think we went for OnePlan because it was 2-for-1 for the kids and we never thought about it too carefully, but wondering what our options are, can we even change given the pre existing condition of our son? If we lapse his cover now is there any issue with him getting it again down the track?

I'm feeling at sea with it all, so any advice is very much appreciated.

 

[snowyb]

Hi culabula,

If you lapse the childrens health insurance, they would have to serve a 5 year waiting time for pre-existing illnesses if the re-joined in the future.
There are a couple of basic cover plans worth considering that cover all the Dublin based childrens hospitals and others.
Details as follows;

1. VHI Start Plan; price 103pa; a selected list of public hospitals covered (this list includes the 3 childrens hospitals in Dublin including Crumlin
hospital).

2. One Plan Starter; price 115pa; all public hospitals covered on this plan.
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Adult Options
The following plan includes good day to day cover at a similar enough price to One Plan, the rest of the options offer a selection of plans that
cover public, private and some hi-tech hospital cover at lower prices if you want to make some savings. There would be no day to day cover
on these other plans but the savings would cover a few health expenses overall. Worth considering, details as follows;

1. VHI Company Plan Plus Level 1.3; price 1128pa; all public, private and 3 hi-tech hospitals covered, private/hi-tech hospital excess 150 per
admission and day case excess 50 per procedure. There is no excess to pay in any public hospital. Good day to day cover included on this plan,
50% refund for gp visits, consultants, physio, dental cover etc.

2. VHI One Plan 150; price 915pa; all public, private and some hi-tech hospital covered, private hospital excess 150 x 2 max per year for all
private admissions and day case procedures. No excess to pay in any public hospital. No day to day cover on this plan.

3. VHI One Plan 250; price 832pa; all public, private and some hi-tech hospital covered, private hospital excess 250 x 2 max per year for all
private admissions and 150 excess per day case procedure. No excess to pay in any public hospital. No day to day cover on this plan.

4. Laya Essential Health 300; price 895pa; all public, private and Beacon hospital covered; cardiac and orthopaedic surgery fully covered in
Mater Private and Blackrock Clinic. Private hospital excess 300 x 2 max per year for all private hospital admissions. Day case excess 125
per procedure. No excess to pay in any public hospital. No day to day cover on this plan.

5. Irish Life Benefit plan; price 899pa; all public, private and Beacon hospital covered, private excess 200 x 2 max per year for all private
hospital admissions, day case excess 125 per procedure. No excess to pay in any public hospital. No day to day cover on this plan.

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Hope this makes choosing a little easier.

Regards Snowyb

 

[culabula]

Thank you so much for taking the time to put that together snowyb, much appreciated