Dr.Phil,
You certainly have a lot on your plate at the moment, and health insurance is an extra expense you could do without, in the circumstances.
If you do decide to cancel, you have 8 yrs credit built up - so that if in the future you re-join, you will not be hit with any loading on your policy.
That's if you re-join within the next 8 yrs. After that, a 2% loading would be added to your premium.
You would be like a new customer and the 5 year waiting for pre-existing conditions would apply.
Its not a good time of the year to be renewing health insurance, as all the childrens half price and special offers are finished unfortunately.
There are a couple of plans to consider, if staying with health insurance is an option;
Option 1; Glohealth
Glohealth Kick Off Plan; price 510pa; just public hospital cover but this is a unique plan, the first of its kind on the market, which has the option to upgrade to a private plan(Kick Off Upgrade plan) if surgery or treatment in a private hospital is required - outside your renewal date with no waiting time applied. This waiting time is usually 2 years. So, you pay for a basic cover plan and only upgrade, at any time outside renewal date, if you need private hospital cover immediately. This is a new type of plan, since December 2015, certainly worth checking out.
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Also, your newborn can be added at renewal date, free for 1 year - once 1st July 2016 is less than 13 weeks since the baby was born.
While there are basic plans at a slightly cheaper price, they just cover public hospitals and the waiting lists are the same for those with or without health insurance. So, Kick Off Plan would be a much better option at that level.
Option 2; Laya
1. Flex 500 Explore; price 661pa (increasing to 721pa from 1 July 2016) public, private and hi-tech hospitals covered.
2. Advantage 375 Explore; price 652pa (increasing to 710 from 1 July 2016) public and certain private hospitals covered.
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Note; Laya have a list of price increases applying from 1 July 2016, however Laya are quite good allowing people to renew a day or two before to
avoid the increases. It's worth asking if considering these options. Your newborn can be added to these plans also.
Childrens Options;
1. Laya Flex 500 Explore; price 178.50now (194 from 1/7/2016); public,private and hi-tech hospitals covered.
2. Laya Flex 250 Explore; price 214 now (233 from 1/7/2016); public, private and hi-tech hospitals covered.
3. VHI PMI 12 11; price 208pa; public,private and hi-tech hospitals covered.
4. VHI PMI 11 11; price 225pa; public,private and hi-tech hospitals covered.
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Note; Children can be with a different company to adults if it suits and also on different plans according to health needs.
Laya allow customers to switch to a different Laya plan during the year, so if any special offers come out, you can avail of them.
Thats if you decide to renew, you could just renew the adults + the free newborn to cut costs.
Hope this shows your options a little clearer, and helps with your decisions whatever the outcome.
Regards, Snowyb