Health insurance is activated if a patient opts for private services in a public hospital or wants to see a private consultant, although consumers can always pay above all these services.
Consumers who have private health insurance can also receive reimbursements or refunds in a wide range of private services, such as physiotherapy, certain medical devices, etc. This varies between the insurers and the plans that can make the benefits of each health insurance plan more confused.
According to the Health Insurance Authority (HIA), 71% of people with health insurance have never changed supplier. HIA is the state agency that regulates the private health insurance market in Ireland.
It is also likely that many consumers change policies, but do it internally and, therefore, do not change their general insurance provider. That may be due to the large volume of plans or policies available for Irish consumers. The HIA says that there are more than 340 plans in the market, for the average consumer that is an overwhelming amount of plans or policies to filter while trying to renew its insurance. The responsibility of the number of plans in the market falls to private health insurance.
While HIA has had a switching tool on its website for many years, in my experience it is not the easiest to use. Recently, my experience has been ecological by several readers who have been in contact. The authority can be aware of this, since they say they are in the process of developing a new evidence -based comparison tool. For me, examining so many health insurance plans based on evidence sounds much simpler than selecting health insurance codes and trying to compare each other based on age and cost, which is the present case.
In good news, people who choose to change are immediately covered to a comparable coverage level. Waiting times are renounced and provide that it changes similarly, there will be no difference in service. Waiting times occur when consumers choose to increase their level of insurance or get health insurance for the first time.
I wonder why everything has to be so complicated. The number of plans throughout the market varies, for example, among the largest insurers in the market, Irish Life Health has 130 plans, Laya more than 100 VHI 85 plans and plans; These constitute most private insurance plans in Ireland today.
Together with the HIA, all the insurers with whom I contacted declared that the health insurance plans were more complicated than other policies or annual plans that require renewal, such as car insurance/home, electricity or gas.
Human beings are complex and, therefore, our health requirements can be very personal. It can be difficult for insurers to specify a plan that pleases most people most of the time. As an expert technology consumer, I still find the large volume of overwhelming and complicated plans to examine. I can only imagine how difficult it can be for someone with fewer technical knowledge, but fortunately, the HIA has a telephone aid line.
Take my advice, before buying or renewing health insurance, write a list of your medical care needs. These needs will change overtime. It is unlikely that a fifty -year couple require maternity or fertility services, while a thirty -year -old couple can.
Some pre -existing medical conditions mean that patients are only treated in a public hospital, regardless of treatment, and this can reduce the cost of a health insurance policy.
In that case, there should be no need to pay a policy that offers attention in a private high -tech hospital because you, as a patient, can never be treated there. Ideally, it ends only by paying the services you need, and not for a policy that has a multitude of useless benefits.
In that case, registering in an unusable high cover health insurance plan results in paying in a boat that will benefit other policy holders, but not yourself.
In my case, I was able to save more than € 100 per month in our health insurance renewal this year by observing our needs more closely. I realized that I was paying too much for the services we would never use; Maternity and fertility services in this house are no longer required, that’s safe!
I used the aforementioned comparison tool and I was a bit perplexed to the tiny price difference (€ 10 per year) between my existing insurer and its closest competitor.
I contacted my insurer and explained my needs on the phone and agreed to leave my insurance coverage at a level that reflected my growing family. Of course, I could have saved another € 10 annually when changing the supplier, but at that price it was simply less complicated to stay where it was.
For the first time in several years, our monthly health insurance bill is less painful and in the context of my mental health and my financial well -being, that can only be something good.
To use the health insurance comparison tool, visit HIA.IE.
Do not forget that those under 8 years automatically qualify for the GP visiting card, and many families of all ages will qualify for this card based on basic media test. Income thresholds are generous and consider mortgage/rental payments, work trips and child care costs. Families that are registered in the drug payment scheme also have their recipe costs limited to € 80 per month.
If you are admitted to the hospital and do not have health insurance or medical card, the positions are minimal. Apart from the emergency charge for outpatients/A & E of € 100 if you attend without being sent by GP and does not have a medical card, hospital care and daily care charges have been abolished since April 17, 2023.
(Tagstotranslate) both in the column I know; Forms me
