Insurance - Exemption from waiting and preexisting condition periods

dazzerb

Quick question

I am moving to Ireland from USA in June and I have always had private insurance here.

I intend on getting private insurance as soon as I arrive in Ireland with VHI, Quinn or Aviva so my question is will I be exempt from the normal waiting and preexisting periods since I am going from one private insurance company to another. Switching from one to another in Ireland will except you but will they honour this in my situation. I cannot find anything on their websites about this.

Thanks!

NuMarvel

I looked into this a few years back when my sister was returning from Australia and VHI and Quinn wouldn't recognise the previous cover. Aviva wouldn't give me a straight answer at the time saying it depended on the cover level and the claims history.

Things may have changed since then though, so drop them a line to see what the current situation is.

That said, I think all thee insurers waive/reduce the normal initial waiting periods as a "special offer" after they've sent you a quote. And if you have a pre existing condition, you can still make a claim for out-patient costs like scans, doctor visits, alternative therapists etc.

dazzerb

Thanks NuMarvel

We called all three providers and none will give us exemptions based on having USA insurance so we are starting from scratch. I need to get a CT scan about once a year and it appears my of pocket will be about EUR300 which I cannot complain about as this usually costs me about $2000 even with full insurance in the states!

VHI seemed the more responsive and professional and able to answer our questions better then the other two although no pricing from any of them yet.

Thanks again and hopefully this data is useful to someone in a similar situation.

broker2008

There is no waiting period for CT scans. Aviva have 8 centres that are approved for direct payment ie. you don't have to pay anything - VHI have 1.

honkytonk52

broker2008 wrote: »

There is no waiting period for CT scans. Aviva have 8 centres that are approved for direct payment ie. you don't have to pay anything - VHI have 1.

in relation to this, all Mri and CT scans if they are paid directly by the health insurance to the facility well then they are subject to waiting periods and pre exist, so these claims would be rejected, although if you have carried out in a centre when the company does not have a direct payment in place, this mean the OP will pay themselves to the facility and claim back subject to the out patients excess, hop:oe this helps

broker2008

There is no waiting period for outpatient benefits if one is under 55 at the time of joining irrespective of whether one served their initial waiting periods or not. MRI & CT scans come under this category. There are approved and non approved centers with all 3 insurers. Avvia have more approved centres so greater choice and no upfront payment. The waiting periods will relate possibly to inpatient claims but scans are on an outpatient basis. Have a look at this booklet: http://www.arachas.ie/2010/pdf/level2_everyday_broker.pdf

VHI don't pay out for mri scans under their healthsteps plan as they too treat as outpatient benefit.
http://www.vhi.ie/pdf/products/healthsteps_handbook_Jan10.pdf

broker2008

Oh if you have not served your initial waiting period, one could have no waiting period for their scan but have no cover for inpatient stays. In all instances, one should check with their insurer as to whether a particular procedure or scan is going to be covered or not.