# Health Insurance Renewal Date to save money



## deebnm (7 Jan 2011)

Hi

I am with quinn healthcare.

My renewal date is 1 Feb 2011. My policy renewal is @700 from that date.

I quickly checked online and from todays date I could get my policy for 635 - a saving of 65 euros which would be nice.

I rang them and they said they can't change the renewal date & all renewals are from 1 of each month - so I can't change to 31 Jan 2011 & obtain this price.

Effectively then Quinn Healthcare are increasing their prices by 10% but there's being no mention of this any where today in the papers!

Anyone any idea's? Only way I could get @ it is to cancel & get a new policy from cancellation date i.e before Feb 2011!


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## julius128 (7 Jan 2011)

I thought Quinn-Health care has already increased their price for this year on 1st January. I have specifically checked the premium price on 31 Dec and 1 January and prices has risen by 10 percent on 1st January. So the price you see in their website should not be changed during 2011 anymore (well I hope so)


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## dereko1969 (7 Jan 2011)

According to this article in today's Times you can renew with VHI at any time no matter your renewal date - I would have presumed the same would be the case with the other Health Companies.
[broken link removed]


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## MrEBear (7 Jan 2011)

Just in relation to renewals, each company would have their own rules on policy renewals. The 1st of the month renewals with quinn seem to be something from when they were originally BUPA. It is most likely a paperwork or audit type thing for the company.

As for the OP getting the cheaper price, there are two things to remember here, 1) its cheaper because its not a full year (i.e. 07/01/11 to 31/12/11) and 2) if the OP really wants to get that price, they could always cancel their current policy, which needs to be done in writting (I know this from experience) and then start a new policy from a later date.

Hope this clears things up. Bear


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## Newbie! (7 Jan 2011)

dereko1969 said:


> According to this article in today's Times you can renew with VHI at any time no matter your renewal date - I would have presumed the same would be the case with the other Health Companies.
> [broken link removed]


 
Do you have renew and pay in full? We pay monthly by direct debit.


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## scuby (7 Jan 2011)

you can pay monthly


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## pj111 (8 Jan 2011)

deebnm said:


> Hi
> 
> I am with quinn healthcare.
> 
> ...


 
What plan is it? Do these figures include 3% service charge


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## deebnm (8 Jan 2011)

I always pay my health insurance in one annual payment.

I have the money saved up over the year.

Just don't understand that if I cancel today and start a new policy I save myself 65 euro's. 

I have no previous medical conditions & I just claim for my GP visits for the last 4 years.

thanks for all your replys - will keep you posted.


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## pj111 (8 Jan 2011)

You haven't given the names of the plan.

I generally recommend against paying in one lump sum as you have entered a contract for a year. If you one had any inpatient claims, there is a good chance that they will not refund any unused premium. This is at the discretion of all 3 insurers.

Because Quinn only allow start dates at 1st, ask for new cover to start from 1st January and old plan to cease from 1st January also. If they won't accomodate, go to Aviva.

The cost of cover is €1.91 per day.


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## NovaFlare77 (9 Jan 2011)

The only thing I can think of with this is that there is a price reduction offer running at the moment on your plan which will be over by the time you renew. I don't know how likely this is though, given that Quinn increased the price of most of their plans on 1st January (as per the [broken link removed]) and the law states that special offers must last for at least 31 days.

Deeb, in your particular case, if you are setting up a new contract or changing your renewal date, ask Quinn set your renewal date as 1st December. Quinn normally have their price increases in January so a December renewal would mean you're avoiding the efects of the price increase for as long as possible.

As for the renewal date being the first of a given month, I think this was done to save on administration and postage costs. It's probably cheaper overall to do one big print/pack/post job per month, than to do four per month.


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## pj111 (10 Jan 2011)

If you have no in-patient claims pending for the current year you can cancel this plan and take it out again on the same phonecall and lock in those savings for the next year.


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## horusd (10 Jan 2011)

I'm with Quinn, also due 1st Feb. But the rates quoted online are exactly the SAME as my renewal premium.  The variance in your quote seems odd.


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## Eithneangela (10 Jan 2011)

I'm with Quinn and when I got my new quote for the year starting 1st Jan, I got on to them and discussed ways of reducing this without affecting the level of cover too much.  So, by changing from Essential Plus to the Company policy, and paying a year in advance (saves the almost €60 they charge for direct debits) I saved almost over 33%.


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## pj111 (10 Jan 2011)

horusd said:


> I'm with Quinn, also due 1st Feb. But the rates quoted online are exactly the SAME as my renewal premium. The variance in your quote seems odd.


 
That's what I thought,the figures don't add up. What plan are we talking about?


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## hippy1975 (28 Jan 2011)

*Cancelling Health Policy immediately ?*

previous posts seem to be saying that if you have no claims pending you can cancel your health insurance immediately, which I would have thought would be the case, i.e. like car or house insurance you could cancel at any time and either receive a rebate if you paid upfront (subject to charges of course) or if you paid by DD it would cease.

However, myself and my husband are trying to purchase health insurance for his parents who up to now paid monthly, with Quinn, we want to pay the annual premium now, but were told by Quinn that the current policy couldn't be cancelled without forfeiting the monies that would be due until renewal, almost EUR 300 , so for two months we'd be effectively double-paying.  So, it seemed like the only thing to do was let that policy run its course and at start of April buy the new one, but after today's news from Aviva I'm even more fearful that by April the new policy price will have gone up again.

Does anyone know, are they trying to pull a fast one, should my in-laws be able to cease their existing policy now and only pay for the period of cover they have had ?


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## NovaFlare77 (28 Jan 2011)

Hippy, I'm a little unclear as to what the exact circumstances are, so am I correct in saying:

The parents are with Quinn (on their own policy), paying monthly, and due to renew in April. 
You want to pay for their full year cover now, by cancelling the current policy and "restarting" it for a full year.
Quinn are saying that if the parents cancel the cover before the renewal, they still have to keep paying.

If my understanding is correct, then I'd say Quinn are incorrect in saying that your parents have to keep paying. Payments by instalments to Quinn are governed by a credit agreement, and this is what the agreement says about cancelling the agreement:

*KEY INFORMATION*
_You can settle this agreement at any time by giving notice in writing. To keep your health insurance policy active you will need to pay off the amount outstanding under your insurance policy. In the event of a third default in paying any instalment on the date it becomes due, the outstanding instalments will become payable immediately. If payment is not received the agreement will be terminated and the insurance policy will be cancelled. No penalty fee shall apply on the cancellation of your insurance policy._


*NON PAYMENT OF INSTALMENTS*​ 
_Non payment of an instalment may result in the withdrawal of the direct debit facility being offered by Quinn Healthcare in the future._

Your in-laws would have received a copy of the credit agreement with their last renewal. They would only need to pay the balance if they wanted to keep the current policy active. In this case, they don't because they're taking out a new one (though it's not new in the sense of their waiting periods, etc).

I'd suggest they contact Quinn again to clarify the matter. If Quinn are insistent on the parents needing to pay the balance, your inlaws should refer them to the above and also ask Quinn to refer to the relevant parts in the agreement or plan rules where it's stated that payments must continue to be made.​


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## hippy1975 (28 Jan 2011)

NovaFlare, your assumptions are correct, and your information is very helpful, thank you very much, I am going to revisit this qith Quinn


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## pj111 (29 Jan 2011)

Update:

When you purchase new policy online with VHI, they were initially giving a reference number. In the same transaction where one cancelled the existing policy, VHI have maintained the same policy number rather than issuing a new one and haven't penalised policyholder for cancelling early. 

Aviva are also not penalising for cancelling early but they are issuing a new policy number instead of amending renewal date on existing policy.

Definitely go back to Quinn as per nova's advice

_Patrick_


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## pj111 (11 Jul 2011)

An update on the above, VHI no longer allow this practice, you are locked into your plan, as if it is a contract , for a year, and can make no changes.

More importantly, one is stuck on the renewal date for the rest of your days with VHI or until Universal Health Care system kicks in.

_Patrick_


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