Health Insurance Cover whilst travelling for 7 months

kantoc

Registered User
Messages
6
Hi,

I am currently on the Control 600 Create plan with Laya expiring at the end of the year. I am planning on going travelling for 7 months from January and am considering my options for cover.

Previously I had planned to allow my cover to lapse and rejoin when i get back to Ireland. I will be 30 when I get back so no worries about LCR yet. I am in good health with no issues thankfully, so I am not overly concerned about waiting periods either. I came across VHI's International plan today and although it's expensive I am considering it. It would roughly cost €650 for the period. An alternative might be to switch to a cheaper plan with a similar level of hospital cover to the one I am on but nothing else, no day to day etc. and compliment this with separate travel insurance. Does anyone have any plans that might be suitable for this?

Any other thoughts are more than welcome. Thanks
 
Hi kantoc,

A similar type of plan with no day to day cover would cost 910pa. Laya Control 600 Connect, which is not exactly cheap, plus a seperate
travel policy added on. I think the seperate travel policy would be a backpackers travel policy. A standard policy would be limited to 60 days per trip max.
An alternative health insurance policy is VHI One Plan 500 @ price 760pa. Private and public hospitals covered on this plan, limited hi-tech covered
on this plan.
The VHI International plan may be the cheaper option to cover your situaltion without having to serve waiting times on your return.

Regards Snowyb
 
E650 may seem expensive now, but it's a pittance compared to possible costs if you need healthcare. Save money anywhere else but dont skimp on health insurance.
 
If you are traveling for that extended period you may want to consider World Nomads for insurance. We used it when traveling for 12 months with kids. It’s not the cheapest but they were fantastic.
 
If you are traveling for that extended period you may want to consider World Nomads for insurance. We used it when traveling for 12 months with kids. It’s not the cheapest but they were fantastic.

Can you give us more info about how they were fantastic? I'd be very interested in how they were with claims, etc.
 
Their level of cover is IMHO superior, for backpacking.
I also found them very responsive to individualised queries.
We lost a go Pro (into the ocean) when travelling, with very little paperwork and effort on our par they reimbursed us directly via bank transfer so we could replace it.
 
I will be supplementing with travel insurance, but unlikely to use world nomads. They do not cover countries which are "Avoid non-essential travel " (orange) status with national travel advisories. Pakistan in my case. Interestingly VHI International do, they only exclude "Do not travel" (red) status. Also World Nomads gets very expensive when you start adding hiking/trekking above 4000m or anything to do with a motorbike. I will likely go for a plan with a lower base level of cover (as VHI International will provide this) and add on adventure activities. Lots of small print to be read :(

World Nomads do come highly touted in the travel community, bloggers etc.

Thanks for the input.
 
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