Health Insurance Is there any advantage in a couple being insured with the same company?

Brendan Burgess

Brendan Burgess

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Why do married couples choose insurance from the same company?

Is there any advantage in having two on the same policy?

I see a note about a "family excess". How does that work?

Brendan
 
We now have separate health insurance policies but with the same company. At the moment they are the same plans but thinking of different plans for each of us for the future. The reason being was that in some years we found that one of us had more doctor visits than the other but because there was a family excess, that one person needed to make lots of visits. In the end we were unable to make any sort of claim. If we had two separate policies at the time then one of us might have got something back on our single person's excess.
 
I note when I signed up for my new policy that I had the option of putting separate cover level in place for my wife with LAYA. There appears to be no discount for joint cover so it would appear feasible for a couple to insure with separate companies should this be their preference!
 
Grizzly said:
The reason being was that in some years we found that one of us had more doctor visits than the other but because there was a family excess, that one person needed to make lots of visits. In the end we were unable to make any sort of claim. If we had two separate policies at the time then one of us might have got something back on our single person's excess.
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Hi Grizzly, so it's a disadvantage to have two people on the same policy. I had seen the following e.g. On the Laya Assure Vitality policy, but had not realised what it meant.

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If you have a joint policy, you are well, but Mrs Grizzly runs up €400 in bills, she will get nothing.

If you have separate policies, should could claim €250!

That's mad. There must be some explanation for this.

Brendan
 
So, are these sorts of thread titles pointless?

Best options for 2 adults & 3 kids

It really is meaningless to ask for the best policy for two adults. The best policy for an adult is the best policy. The best policy for two adults costs twice that.

Brendan
 
Hi all. So, just to clarify, there is no benefit to both spouses having the a joint policy? I cant see any discount for joint policy so a separate policy seems to be the way to go.
 
I think it can be fairly headwrecking dealing with 2 companies; we all have different policies in my family but are with the same Company. I spent an hour on hold the other day with Laya but was able to get a few items sorted.
I do the admin for my parents who are with VHI, they are much quicker at answering the phone....
 
I have everyone on the family on the same policy. It’s no cheaper or more expensive

It’s pure convenience. I don’t have the bandwidth to be dealing with different renewal dates and different online portals and T&Cs.

I’d have a different attitude if you could get discounts and loyalty bonuses with health insurers but AFAIK you can’t.
 
GAAmam said:
I spent an hour on hold the other day with Laya but was able to get a few items sorted.
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I was on hold with Laya this week for a long time. They even have their answering machine saying....we are experiencing a high volume of calls at the moment.......this never changes.......maybe employ a few more staff?

I see that I posted in January 2015 on this thread. Both myself and my wife have two separate policies with Laya...but both the same named policy. My wife has had a few small claims. She had to pay an individual €175 excess on her policy last year for a colonoscopy outpatient procedure. I think that if it had been a joint policy we would have had to pay the "family" excess of over €450? Would this be correct?
 
So looks like in some cases where there are lots of children or I presume you can have multiple adults on the same policy, a joint policy might make more sense as the family excess is likely to be met and would be cheaper than multiple individual excesses ? And in smaller families individual ones make sense ?
 
misemoi said:
So looks like in some cases where there are lots of children or I presume you can have multiple adults on the same policy, a joint policy might make more sense as the family excess is likely to be met and would be cheaper than multiple individual excesses ? And in smaller families individual ones make sense ?
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Grizzly said:
I was on hold with Laya this week for a long time. They even have their answering machine saying....we are experiencing a high volume of calls at the moment.......this never changes.......maybe employ a few more staff?

I see that I posted in January 2015 on this thread. Both myself and my wife have two separate policies with Laya...but both the same named policy. My wife has had a few small claims. She had to pay an individual €175 excess on her policy last year for a colonoscopy outpatient procedure. I think that if it had been a joint policy we would have had to pay the "family" excess of over €450? Would this be correct?
Click to expand...
Myself and Husband have joint Policy called Simplicity with Laya.

In 2023 I had 2 scans in Blackrock Cinic. Bill was 770 Euros. I can claim 50% back on everyday expenses. This entitles me to 385 euros refund. We have an excess of 200 euros so only get 185 Euro. Excess comes off refund due not price paid. A lot of people don’t know that. If we had separate policies I would have got 285 Euro back.

I got my Renewal request today. I am shocked to see it has gone up to 4402 Euro. It was 3516 Euro last year. Difference 886 Euro.
Can anyone recommend a cheaper policy with any Company with similar benefits Please.
 
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