Money Guide Ireland

07 Jan

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

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