# Good cover for the Beacon



## promoter (27 Aug 2013)

Hi
I'm looking for a policy that has good cover for the Beacon Hospital ie: (1) no nightly shortfall (2) as low an excess as possible, (3) cancer cover if possible (4) good day to day cover (5) ideally I'd like a private room.

The HIA website isn't particularly useful as the search includes the Blackrock and Mater P and the policies it suggests are all very expensive. I know that some policies like Aviva Hospital Focus and Laya Connect Care cover the Beacon but not the other high techs and the HIA doesn’t separate these out. Laya don't provide cancer cover or out-patient scans in the Beacon and again this is something I'd prefer.
I'm wondering if there are any good value VHI / AVIVA or GLO corporate policies offering what I'm after. Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

No cover at present. 2 Adults, no kids.
Many thanks


----------



## snowyb (28 Aug 2013)

Hi promoter,

There are a couple of suggestions to consider that tick most of the boxes you require.  
Both are with VHI and are similar re hospital cover,  only difference relates to outpatient cover ( 4 extra visits gp, consultant etc).
They both fully cover a semi-private room in the Beacon.

Option 1 + 2
1.  Company Plan Extra Level 3;  price per adult; 1280pa;  No hospital excess.
2.  PMI 05 11;  price  per adult;  1350pa; No hospital excess.

www.hia.ie/ci/comparison/step3?111&232/

These plans fully cover;
1. Public hospital(including private room).

2. Private hospital semi-private room,  or a private room with a 50euro per night shortfall if required.

3. Hi-tech Beacon hospital semi-private room,   to upgrade to a private room would cost 200approx per night.
80% cover for orthopaedic hip,knee and shoulder replacement surgery and cataract eye surgery.

4. Hi-tech Mater Private semi-private room -  Cardiac + Orthopaedic surgery is fully covered and a list of 50 fixed price procedures are 
also covered with this plan.  Mater Private are either not collecting shortfalls or else reducing shortfall amounts since 2008.

5. Hi-tech Blackrock Clinic private room - this hospital completed a renovation a few years ago so there are no shared wards anymore.
  All rooms are private, single rooms with ensuite facilities throughout the hospital, at no extra cost to the patient.
The majority of surgery in this hospital is fully covered on this plan with Blackrock Clinic.   Just to explain further, if you needed admission
for tests etc, if admission is not for surgery you would not be fully covered and the relevant nightly shortfall of 260 would apply.  
 A wide range of specific surgery is fully covered, they are not collecting shortfalls since 2008. 

6. There is excellent outpatient cover on these plan.  100 refund per consultant visit, 40 refund per gp visit etc.

7.  Outpatient radiology  MRI, PET- CT scans are fully covered in the Beacon Hospital.   PET-CT scans are covered for Beacon oncology patients.
It is not clear whether  x-rays, ultrasound etc are covered in the Beacon,  this would have to be clarified with VHI.


Option 3
The cheapest plan to fully cover a private room in the Beacon Hospital( no hospital excess applies to Beacon) is also with VHI as follows;

Company Plan Executive Excess;  price per adult;  2569pa;   Private room full cover in the Beacon and Blackrock Clinic,  semi-private room 
in the Mater Private.   Good outpatient cover.

www.hia.ie/ci/comparison/step3?126/


As a new customer, you would have to serve new customer waiting times for hospital cover.
Details as follows;  26 weeks for people under 55 yrs.
Immediate cover for accidents or injury.
Immediate cover for outpatient cover, no waiting applies.

Note;  If you or your partner have any pre-existing medical conditions, the waiting time will be 5 years for hospital cover, just in respect
of any pre-existing conditions.  New medical conditions will be fully covered after 26 weeks waiting is served.


Plenty of food for thought for consideration. 

Regards,  Snowyb


----------



## promoter (28 Aug 2013)

Cheers Snowyb, fantastically helpfull as ever.


----------



## macdo (28 Aug 2013)

If you don't have health insurance, why all of a sudden do you need an expensive policy to start off with?

Vhi wont let you change your policy once you start with them so you will have no inpatient cover for at least 6 months to 10 years depending on your age and if pre-existing conditions are present. Laya, Glohealth and Aviva will. Laya and Aviva offer cover for Beacon hospital if that is the most important factor. Aviva have a private room in the Beacon for €765 with co-payments for certain orthopaedic and cardiac procedures - First Focus. Laya Aspire have an excess, HIA is not too clear so look at Laya website.

Aviva Hospital Focus has a private room in the Beacon with no excess for €1,170 or start on even lower plan with Aviva or Laya and upgrade after 6 months to save money. Here's the comparisons; [broken link removed]

The lower premium would pay for a lot of day to day cover


----------

