Health Insurance Health Insurance advice for someone accustomed to NHS free healthcare

Apparently Company Plan Plus Level 1.3 is set to increase by €586 from 1st March 2024. Since my renewal date is February 16th, I'm assuming I'll avoid this price hike? Apparently the out-patient excess is also due to increase from €1 to €10 so I'd hopefully avoid that too.
 
Maybe it would make sense then to keep Company Plan Plus Level 1.3 for one more year and then seek to switch plan next year instead. It is crazy to me that the premium for this plan has gone from €1,245.38 in February 2023 to €2,033.20 in March 2024. That is an astonishing 63% increase in the space of one year.
 
My hunch is that they crunched the numbers and found it was mostly signed up to by older customers that cost them in claims. So they load it.
 
On January 17th, I got this 'Your Vhi policy renewal' message from VHI:

Plan: Company Plan Plus Level 1.3
Total Premium: €1,447.20
Period of Cover: 15/02/2024 - 14/02/2025
Click to expand...

So I called VHI on February 8th and asked if I could switch from paying monthly direct debits to salary deductions via my employer group scheme when my plan was renewed on February 15th. I told them that my employer group scheme renews in March, so I was concerned that I would end up being charged the increased premium (that came into effect on March 1st) despite my plan renewing on February 15th. I was told this wouldn't be an issue and that I wouldn't be charged anything extra for doing this.


Then on February 15th, I got another 'Your Vhi policy renewal' message from VHI:

Plan: Company Plan Plus Level 1.3
Total Premium: €86.99
Period of Cover: 15/02/2024 - 07/03/2024

Plan: Company Plan Plus Level 1.3
Total Premium: €1,560.03
Period of Cover: €08/03/2024 - 07/03/2025
Click to expand...

So it looks like they are now indeed charging me the increased premium despite telling me this wouldn't be the case. Is there anything I can do about this? I would never have changed my payment method to salary deduction had I known this would happen.
 

Ring and ask to speak to a supervisor or manager. They record all calls so should be able to trace the call and listen back. Perhaps you have a note of the time of the call on your mobile. One of their staff was able to read back the notes on their system from a previous call that I had made to them.

It may also be worth a try contacting the person who deals with the VHI scheme in your place of employment. If they are in any way helpful you could ask them to see if they can do anything by speaking to their contact in VHI. They were good at that type of stuff years ago but not sure if that would work these days.

I have learnt over the years that it is best when arranging this type of stuff to get it confirmed by e-mail before proceeding. They had to stand over a mistake that they made on confirmation of cover because I had it in writing.
 
I called this morning and spoke with VHI. They said what appears to have happened was that as I wanted to change payment method to salary deduction, my renewal date would change from my own personal renewal date to the renewal date of my employer group scheme and therefore I would be hit with the March price hike.

They offered to find me a cheaper plan but I advised that there wasn't really anything that offered equivalent cover to Company Plan Plus Level 1.3. I told them to check the recorded call as I had been assured that this situation wouldn't happen, otherwise I wouldn't have switched from Direct Debit to Salary Deduction. At the time I expressed my concerns about this potentially being a problem and I was told that lots of staff have different renewal dates to their group schemes and that this was totally normal.

They have my details and said they would come back to me in a couple of days. I simply cannot really afford nor justify the 25% increase from a premium of €1,245.38 in February 2023 to €1,560.03 in March 2024. Last month Dermot Goode said to Claire Byrne that €1400 was the amount needed for a good level of cover as can be heard at 01:28 into this clip:
https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22343859/
 
I called VHI and they have given me two options:

1. Revert back to direct debit at the original renewal date of 15th February and pay €1,447.20 for Company Plan Plus Level 1.3

2. Remain paying by salary deduction through employer group scheme with a renewal date of March 8th, and pay either €1,560.30 for Company Plan Plus Level 1.3, or else downgrade to PMI 4316 for €1,455.80 which they said offers equivalent cover in all key areas.

I'll have to take the weekend to consider these options so I'd be keen to hear any thoughts.
 
Hi Poundman,

Have VHI mentioned any additional premium on Option 2 for the period 15th February to 8th March on top of the amounts mentioned? They did appear to quote €86.00 on Monday as shown above.

Had a look at both policies and overall the PMI4316 would appear to be good cover @ €1,455.80.

Table of Benefits Company Plus Level 1.3 and Table of Benefits PMI4316

Is the use of the word 'downgrade' yours or theirs as the cover overall would appear to be better on PMI4316.

The small differences that show up straight away to me are:

1. Dental allowances on Section for Level 1.3 are €25 for 7 visits and €35 for 10 visits on 4316

2. Prescriptions = €20 x 2 visits on 4316 and nothing on Level 1.3.

3. One big difference is that the maximum cover on day-to-day expenses is capped @ €1,000 on Level 1.3whereas its €3,500 on 4316.


You did contact Dermot Goode's company recently and they were able to help you so perhaps you could seek their advice again in connection with this matter.


PoundMan said:
I got this response from Dermot Goode's company who were happy to engage with me on the basis that I had paid for their consultation services previously:
Click to expand...
"Although the Company Plan + L1.3 has increased in price, it still remains a decent level of cover. None of these plans will fully cover orthopaedic and ophthalmic procedures (hip, knee, shoulder replacements, cataract removal etc). The Company Plan +L1.3 will cover 80% of these procedures, while PMI 5210 will only cover 60%.

Unfortunately, most plans have been hit with price hikes this year and some are due to increase again over the coming months.

If you wanted to keep the 80% ortho cover and didn’t want to increase excess or switch provider, this plan is still a very good option."
PoundMan said:
So I'm leaning towards sticking with my current plan as it seems there isn't really a more affordable equivalent from VHI on the market at the moment.
Click to expand...
 
@Sue Ellen in order to avoid a break in cover, I would imagine I'll still have to pay the €86 if I went with option 2 and changed from Company Plan Plus Level 1.3 to PMI 4316. They told me that changing would be considered a downgrade, but as you say it's a strange one since both plans are certainly quite comparable. I'm leaning towards going for it, as paying via salary deduction gives me that extra bit of peace of mind of not worrying about having enough funds sitting in my current account for the direct debit. But if I were to stick with option 1, I suppose I could perhaps avoid the annual price hike that seems to always happen around March/April.
 
Just to update, I went with PMI 4316 in the end as they again told me that it is almost identical to Company Plan Plus Level 1.3 and it will be a small saving of €104.50 for myself.
 
Getting to that time of year again folks, and it is looking like my renewal for PMI 4316 in 2025 is going to be €1,613.10 which is nearly an 11% increase from the €1,455.80 that I paid in 2024. It is actually now ever so slightly more expensive than the Company Plan Plus Level 1.3 scheme that I was originally on in 2023. Is there a better value semi-private corporate plan that offers equivalent cover? My budget is probably around €1,350 - €1,650.
 
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