# Consequences of dropping Health Insurance for a year or two



## newpoorish (6 Jan 2010)

Hi,

I'm a puplic servant aged mid-forties.
As a result of the pay cuts, levies and the forthcoming Vhi price rises my financial "ends" don't meet anymore. I'm considering dropping my private health insurance just for a couple of years until things improve.

What are the  consequences in the future for me when I go to rejoin an insurance company again?

Thank you!


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## Towger (6 Jan 2010)

There is a waiting period for full cover after you rejoin.


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## NovaFlare77 (6 Jan 2010)

As Towger says, you will be subject to waiting periods again. At present these waiting periods are based on three age brackets: under 55, 55 to 59, and 60 upwards.

There has also been some talk for the last number of years of the introduction of "lifetime community rating". This is how the Health Insurance Authority explain it:



> Under the proposed system, an insurer may increase the premium for those that take out insurance for the first time later on in life. This is called a late entry loading. Under this system a 60 year old who took out insurance when they were 25 will pay the same premium as a 25 year old, but a 60 year old who takes out insurance for the first time may be charged more.
> 
> It is proposed that the late entry loadings will not apply to people who have health insurance cover when this regulation comes into effect, or those who take out cover before the proposed age of 30 and maintain it.


 
What it means for you is that, *IF* this is introduced, you may end up paying a higher premium than if you had maintained it. Of course, compare this to how much money you'd have to spend to maintain cover and it may still be worthwhile cancelling. It's also envisaged (but not guaranteed) that there would be a phase in period whereby the new system would be announced a few months before it would take effect. 

Another alternative is to switch to the lowest cost plan out there and upgrade when things improve. I believe it's currently Quinn's Essential Starter and costs €380 at the moment, but check the health insurers to see what they offer. this way, you'd still maintain some cover should you want to use private healthcare if something unexpected crops up. When you upgrade in the future, you still have an upgrade waiting period but this is presently 2 years and only applies to the *additional* cover the new plan would give you for *conditions present* before you upgraded. No other waiting periods would apply to hospital cover, even if you were switching to another insurer at the time. 

Hope this all helps. It's all based on the current system and rules, so things may radically change in the future, but I don't forsee that happening anytime soon.

EDIT: Have you looked around at other health insurers/ health insurance plans to see if you can make savings?


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## Mommah (6 Jan 2010)

In general I would say you will get good care in the public services. 
You might have to wait...especially for non emergency things.

But you won't die waiting. Generally things are pretty good.
I've paid private health insurance for years and they've always let me down in the end.
Ended up using public facilities when having my babies...VHI didn't pay much towards the cost, really didn't do any better than my sis who went public and free. Recently daughter was sick in a foreign country and I was covered,(depite being on plan bloody D) so used my  EHIC card to great effect, had to pay a few hundred euro for 2 ambulances and 3 hospitals, multiple scans...great outcome in the end TG.


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## Johnweber (6 Jan 2010)

newpoorish said:


> Hi,
> 
> I'm a puplic servant aged mid-forties.
> As a result of the pay cuts, levies and the forthcoming Vhi price rises my financial "ends" don't meet anymore. I'm considering dropping my private health insurance just for a couple of years until things improve.
> ...


 
Novaflare makes very good points especially the fact that if you reduce your cover to stay in the game so to speak that when you go back to upgrade the waiting period of 2 years will be only for pre existing conditions for the higher level of cover. Also you can cancel your cover for upto 13 weeks without having to reserve waiting periods. I have a client who did just this having being put on short time and reinstated cover 13 weeks later and whose wife needed her PMI only 3 weeks later.


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