Hi Babyb2010,
First of all, there are no waiting periods if your husband and 2 children switch to Glohealth ( I'm assuming you will stay with VHI, as the co pays)
Glohealth has a facility on their website to check out the hospitals they cover in your area. You can click on your county and
see if the 2 private hospitals in your area are listed, under heading 'Private hospitals'.
[broken link removed]
Regarding level of cover, both plans have same public hospital cover.
The only small difference re private hospital cover, is the excess amount. 75euro with VHI, 100euro with Glohealth, difference of 25 euro.
This hospital excess means if yourself or your husband are admitted for a stay in a private hospital, you pay this excess amount on admission.
It is a one-off payment on admission, it is NOT per night, just 75 or 100 euro on admission.
It does not apply to any public hospital, so it wouldn't apply for the children as there are no private children's hospitals in Ireland.
The excess amount for admission to a hi-tech hospital is 150 with Glohealth, it is 75 with VHI.
Again its a one-off payment if admitted to a hi-tech hospital for treatment or surgery.
Three out of the four hi-tech hospitals are based in Dublin - Blackrock Clinic, Beacon hospital and Mater Private Dublin, so they may not
be relevant to you.
The 4th hi-tech hospital, Mater Private Cork is not listed with Glohealth. This is a brand new hospital so they may not have signed up just yet.
Not sure if this matters to you at this stage.
Regarding day to day cover, your husband can add the 'Daily Care Better Plan' onto 'Better Plan' - the 2 children go free on this day to day
plan also. The price per year for an adult is 198pa, 2 kids included for free.
Just to recap;
Better Plan; adult price; 915pa - 2 kids free,similar hospital cover, very minor difference regarding private hospital excess - explained above.
Daily Care Better Plan; adult price; 198pa; 2 kids free, day to day cover including gp visits, consultants etc
Total price; 1113pa; 1 adult and 2 children; good hospital cover + good day to day cover.
www.hia.ie/ci/comparison/step3?89&298/
www.hia.ie/ci/comparison/step3?outpatient&304/
All the other 3 providers, VHI, LAYA & AVIVA will cost 1600approx for the same cover - including day to day cover for 1adult + 2kids.
Just to clarify what is your exact renewal date?
If the 2 private hospitals you require are covered with Glohealth, I would recommend this offer including the outpatient cover.
The difference, re excess amount as explained above, is so small in the overall scheme of things its practically nothing.
It doesn't affect your treatment or access to hospitals in any way.
You're just fortunate that the 2 children are under 3 and you are in a position to avail of this offer.
Hope this explains things a little clearer and eases some of your concerns.
Regards, Snowyb