Health Insurance Price Comparison in Ireland
There are three main health insurance providers in Ireland – VHI , Quinn Direct and Aviva. The health insurance market in Ireland is estimated to be worth over €1 billion in premiums each year.
The Health Insurance Authority has set up a price comparison site for Private Health Insurance in Ireland.
An initial search on the HIA comparison site - shows up no less than 182 different health insurance price plans available in Ireland – ranging from the cheapest at €144 per adult per year to the most expensive at €2640 per adult per year. The amount of different plans and variations in levels of cover provided is mind boggling – it must be easy for people to get confused by all the options available.
The lowest priced plan shown was €144 for the “Day to Day Plan” from Aviva which is appears to cover a maximum of €480 a year towards visits to GPs , Dentists, Physios and other practitioners . It provides no hospital cover or outpatient cover – and can be taken out as a stand alone policy or as an add on to another Aviva plan.
At the other end of the scale is the €2832.72 Plan E from VHI. This plan provides cover for in-patient costs in a private room in a private hospital. You also get upto €1500 a year towards any Cancer Support treatment.
You also get Maternity cover – €910 for delivery consultant, €3400 for maternity hospital cover.Outpatient cover is also provided (Max €4000 with a €200 excess) – €20 Euro per GP visit, €51 per consultant visit, €20 towards A&E charge. Other out patient items are also covered.In-patient psychiatric treatment ( non-alcohol/drug) up to 18o days covered (90 days for alcohol/drug related).
The HIA comparison tool shows just how complicated the health insurance market is in Ireland. The massive amount of different types of cover available – no two insurance plans are exactly the same – so making an accurate price comparison is difficult. There are slight differences in all the plans – and unless you know what health problems you are going to get you don’t really know which one is going to best for you. The HIA comparison make it easier than trawling through the providers prices – but it is still not a simple task.
Health insurance in Ireland must be an insurance brokers dream – they can overwhelm clients with the details and make them so confused that they will probably accept whatever the broker says is the best policy.
It is probably a safe bet that most people in Ireland don’t have a clue exactly what their health insurance covers them for.
If you are admitted to hospital – without health insurance or a medical card – the charge for in-patient/day services is €75 per day up to a maximum of €750 in any 12 consecutive months. All the treatment you recieve in hospital, all procedures,scans,surgery etc and all follow up out-patient treatment is free of any further charge.
Long Stay patients are charged less: (Long stay = over 30 days)
a) Those receiving in-patient services where nursing care is provided on a 24 hour basis the maximum weekly charge will be €153.25, or their weekly income less €44.70, whichever is the lesser.
b) those receiving in-patient services where nursing care is not provided on a 24 hour basis – the maximum weekly charge will be the lesser of €114.95, or the person’s weekly income less €70.25, or 60% of the persons weekly income
Of course – without health insurance you may well have to wait a good bit longer to be treated in the first place .
Some interesting figures on health insurance in Ireland
In June 2009 there were 2.27 million people covered by private health insurance in Ireland – or 51.5 per cent of the total population.
In comparison – in the UK , figures from the Association of British Insurers at the end of 2008, show that 7.3 million people had some sort of private medical cover - this is around 13% of the UK population.
Refs: http://www.hia.ie/ci/search_app
.
I am aged 71 and my wife 73. We are thinking of retiring to Ireland. Will we be able to get private medical insurance cover in Ireland. Neither of has any major on-going medical issues.
April 4th, 2010 at 11:34Hi Doc:
Generally, there is no age restriction on taking out Health Insurance for the first time, Company’s have to quote you, based on Community Rating.
However, the following is a real restriction based on age bands under-55, 55-65, over-65:
Do I have to serve a waiting period when I take out health insurance for the first time?
If you are taking out health insurance for the first time or have allowed your cover to lapse for 13 weeks or more, you will be covered for accident and injury claims immediately.
However an insurer may apply a waiting period to all other claims.
The waiting periods that an insurer may apply in these circumstances are as follows:
26 weeks in respect of a person who is under the age of 55 years.
52 weeks in respect of a person who is of or over the age of 55 years and under the age of 65 years.
104 weeks in respect of a person who is 65 years and over.
April 5th, 2010 at 13:55Dear Dr. Moola,
The above waiting periods apply to new conditions. You should also take note of the pre-existing condition waiting periods associated with taking out health insurance in Ireland for the first time.
April 14th, 2010 at 15:38For those over 60 a 10 year waiting period applies to pre-existing conditions. These are defined as any condition which can be proven to exist prior to taking out health insurance, regardless of whether the person was aware of this condition or had presented with symptoms prior to the commencement of the policy.
Hi again Doc:
The info posted in my post is contained in this pdf download, from the HIA web-site:
http://www.hia.ie/assets/files/publications/Consumer_Info_Brochures/HIA%20Choices%20Jan2010.pdf
Page 4 contains the waiting period based on age information.
Do I have to serve a waiting period when I take out health insurance for the first time?
Ans. on P4, (really page 6 of PDF)
————————————–
As S.Goggins has said, those waiting periods apply to new conditions.
Info regarding pre-existing conditions and age-related waiting periods also in that Doc, also on Page 4.
I have a medical condition. Do I have to serve additional waiting periods before I am covered for this?
If you are taking out health insurance for the first time and have a pre-existing condition e.g. diabetes, the health insurer can impose a waiting period in respect of cover for treatment for this condition. The maximum waiting periods that the health insurer may impose in this case are as follows:
• 5 years, for a person who is under the age of 55 years.
• 7 years, for a person who is of or over the age of 55 years and under the age of 60 years.
• 10 years for a person who is 60 years or over.
These waiting periods may apply from the date of policy commencement. It should be noted that whether or not a
condition existed at the time that an insured person began serving a waiting period is decided on the basis of medical advice. Whether or not the insured person was aware that they had the condition at the time that they started serving the waiting period may be considered not to be relevant by the insurer. If this matter is important to you, you should consider
clarifying it with your insurer.
So, watch out for possible conditions which you may not consider to be “major on-going issues”.
April 21st, 2010 at 00:54