Health Insurance Cancel Private Health Insurance

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Poppyman

New Member
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Hi,
First time here!

So I've just received my renewal quote and it's coming to €2772 for 24/25

We have 2 adults on VHI enhanced care 350 and 1 adult on Public Plus care

I know lots of people can afford this but to me it's a lot of money and it really doesn't cover much. A lot of people I've spoken to have said that with that level of cover you may as well just go with the public system. Luckily we're all in good health (touch wood) and haven't used our insurance in years so I'm thinking would I be better off to just try and save about 2k every year and hopefully build up a fund over time that might help if needed or could be used for other things rather than giving it to VHI every year.
Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance
 
Hi Poppyman,

Welcome to AAM.

See the details on the plans here.

The cover is basic on the Enhanced Care 350 policies and extremely basic on Public Plus Care but that's reflected in the premiums.

I certainly would not drop my health insurance unless I did not have the money. The way waiting lists are in Ireland at the moment, and long queues in A&E, I prefer to have an alternative. Being told during Covid that if I was an emergency, I would be waiting a year, and if not emergency then 4/5 years, confirmed my thoughts on having health insurance.

Your age, of course, does come into the equation, and if you fall into the elderly bracket, then IMHO it is a must.
 
How old are you?

If you re-enter insurance after the age of 35 then you will pay 2% extra for any year you've missed over the age of 35.
 
Thanks for those replies. I think the the point I'm trying to make is that the level of cover I can afford is practically useless anyway. Apart from saving a few quid on basic day to day stuff it's of no benefit. I don't think I will get a bed quicker than anyone else in a public hospital. I certainly won't get a semi private or private room. I won't have any cover worth talking about in a private hospital. In 10 years time I could have over 20k saved which might be some use. Please correct me if I'm wrong on this but to have any cover worth talking about, I reckon I'd need to be paying substantially more.

I'm 62 BTW ... yes I know!!
 
The idea of Slaintecare is to remove all private activity from public hospitals..

The idea is that consultants will sign up to public-only contracts.

If Slaintecare achieves its goals of shorter waiting times, I presume the result might be many people dropping health insurance.

We would end up more like DK, SWE, etc.
 
I think healthcare is essential if you can at all afford it. Private rooms hold no interest for me but the ability to get surgery/treatment if needed is why I continue with it. My other half has never used it he has to be pushed into getting his bloods done every couple of years but we are paying a premium for the possibility of what may happen.

I have friends and colleagues who have cancelled it and have had to wait for things like a hernia operation or routine endoscopy/colonoscopy procedures. If you are in a position you could still pay cash for these procedures and some of the private hospitals like the Beacon offer cash payment plans. Tonsillectomy for my 15 year old carried a long wait and needed to be done so we were glad we had it. Outpatient again while we do have reasonable cover would not be my priority its access surgery and serious diagnostics that are important for us.

I do get what you are saying and if you save the 20k in a fund then you have access to that cash if there is a need but in my experience that does not happen and the money is absorbed into the household budget. It’s an individual choice and for some families with the cost of living increases just not an option and thats understandable. You have to sit down and do the maths to see if it’s viable but personally I would forgo broadband or other things before I would touch my health insurance. It can be difficult to look at the cost involved with no obvious benefits being received but consider that you are well and thats actually a good thing. You might consider if you are disciplined enough to save the premiums but being honest I think the majority of people are not.
 
Poppyman said:
I reckon I'd need to be paying substantially more.
Click to expand...

Probably €1,500 at least if you want the 80% ortho/opth and not the 60% that VHI seem to be allowing a lot recently.

Poppyman said:
I certainly won't get a semi private
Click to expand...

It looks from the HIA site that you would in the Beacon

The Blackrock Clinic, the Mater Private and the Beacon Hospital procedures other than Cardiac and Special​


Full Cover in the Beacon Hospital with an excess of €350 per claim; 60% cover for certain orthopaedic and ophthalmic procedures; No cover in the Blackrock Clinic or Mater Private

The A&E cover is very important as I mentioned above as Carrickmines is excellent.

Poppyman said:
In 10 years time I could have over 20k saved which might be some use.
Click to expand...

Don't forget also that the €20,000 is spread between 3 people.
 
That’s another good point in terms of access to private A & E even for serious conditions when/if you get admitted really is a lengthy process. Having personal experience of an elderly parent admitted via A & E we would never do it again. My parent was just not able for the 16 hours it took to get a trolley. The staff tried their best and no criticism but it was just too much for that length of time in a chair. My parent does have reasonable private health cover but my sibling thought she would be seen quickly enough in a general hospital which was not our experience.
 
Thanks for all the replies, I missed a few of these ...

Can I ask a couple of straight questions please ...

1. If I renew my existing plan which is VHI enhanced care 350 and lets say I am told I need a heart bypass urgently, will I get treatment more quickly than some one on the public system or will I still have to wait?

2. Can anyone recommend a policy with similar or better cover for the same price as my existing policy? ... It's a jungle out there.

Thanks again
 
I think an urgent heart bypass is a bad example, because that’ll be prioritised in the public system anyway. It’s some other type of thing that’s not urgent but is painful like a hip/knee/etc.
 
My experience is that there is no waiting period of outpatient cover for under 50 years of age if you upgrade your plan with Vhi. I think there is a 2 year waiting period for existing conditions for new cover when you upgrade but none for new conditions. The old cover applies in the interim of the waiting period.

It would be worth a phone call they are quite helpful I have found. I would recommend considering what you think might be a priority in terms of cover eg ortho which varies greatly in terms of % cover. Where do you think you may want cover in terms of which high tech hospitals you may not need cover in them all. Also to consider the shortfalls or excess you will need to pay if you admitted/day surgery in one of them. HIA website for comparison is quite good for pointing you in the right direction. I have my kids with VHI and I am with Laya you can also move provider with no waiting period if the cover is similar but all upgrades appear to have waiting times for existing conditions.
 
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