VHI Increasing Premiums

dak

VHI are increasing all premiums from 01/02/2011. I heard that you can ring up VHI amd change your renewal date pre 1st Feb so that you get current rates for another year .

Anyone know if you are allowed change your renewal date?

DavidH82

It seems you can according to the head of VHI in today's Independent.

Independent.ie

RENEW NOW
The VHI hikes do not take effect until February 1. That means that anyone due to renew their healthcare cover with the company before February will not be affected by the rise.
That is because once you renew your cover you lock in at that premium for a full year. The new rates will take effect for anyone renewing their policy from February on. So if you are due to renew in March, you will pay the same monthly rate until then and from March on your premium will go up.
But even those who are due to renew their cover from February on can avoid the hike by changing their renewal date on their premium.
Just ring up the VHI and tell them you want to renew now, before February.
You are fully entitled to do this, according to VHI boss Jimmy Tolan.
All this can be done with one phone call to the VHI. However, the big problem you will face is getting through to the VHI as phone lines were jammed all day yesterday after the company dropped its bombshell.

dudara

Moved to Banking & Insurance & Pensions

dudara

dak

Have just tried to change my renewal date . Had to leave a message with their call back service.... hope they call back before Feb!

1916

Anyone willing to share info on "corporate scheme/plans" charges etc?

I thought I was on a corporate scheme at work, turns out its a 'Group Scheme' i.e. the standard 10% discount one, which is not the same at all. Corporate schemes seem to offer deeper discounts and by law these 'corporate plans' must be available to everyone i.e. individuals included, but VHI never tells you that.

dak

1916 wrote: »

Anyone willing to share info on "corporate scheme/plans" charges etc?

I thought I was on a corporate scheme at work, turns out its a 'Group Scheme' i.e. the standard 10% discount one, which is not the same at all. Corporate schemes seem to offer deeper discounts and by law these 'corporate plans' must be available to everyone i.e. individuals included, but VHI never tells you that.

Take a look on this link .. you can compare policies , benefits and costs

http://www.hia.ie/ci/health-insurance-comparison

NuMarvel

Something to bear in mind when changing your renewal date is that some of your benefits, especially out-patient and everyday bills like GP vists and the like, may be proportionally reduced. If your plan covers 10 GP visits in the year (for example), then this is reduced by the amount of time between your previous renewal and January. The same applies to any other benefits that have limits based on your membership year.

Also, VHI have four particular renewal dates in the month (1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd), so make sure to have the change made before the 22nd at the latest.

broker2008

Very good point novaflare. Also be aware that your multitrip travel insurance policy will cease, with no refund if you cancel mid year although government have told VHI that they must open up their product to all and probably stop them from cancelling the travel policy. I would not count on them giving credit if you purchase online again.

Lady Chatterton

I currently pay for Plan B + options on a monthly basis by DD. My policy is due for renewal in May 2011. If I contact VHI to ask them to change by renewal date to January 2011 will they expect me to pay the remaining premium (i.e Feb, Mar, April in a lump sum). I apologise if this is a stupid question!

NuMarvel

MrsD007 wrote: »

I currently pay for Plan B + options on a monthly basis by DD. My policy is due for renewal in May 2011. If I contact VHI to ask them to change by renewal date to January 2011 will they expect me to pay the remaining premium (i.e Feb, Mar, April in a lump sum). I apologise if this is a stupid question!

Not a stupid question, and no they shouldn't ask you to pay the February to March premiums. What changing the renewal date does is effectively cancel your current policy and restart it immediately from the day you cancel it. Other than the renewal date and the possible changes I posted above, there shouldn't be any other change to your policy.

dak

Got VHI callback service every time I rang last week. Got a call today to my mobile...it rang for about 2 seconds and I got another message to say they would ring back in a day or 2.

Decided to ring 1890 86 68 55 and got through after about a 20 minute wait. I was able to change my renewal date from may to 22/01/2011 which is the last admin date before 01/02/2011 to make a change!

No increase for another year!

NuMarvel

Your next job is to move to a corporate plan and then finally move insuers. Your time starts.... NOW!

Seriously though, if anyone is considering switching to one of VHI's corporate plans, do it before 1st March 2010 as that is when the corporate plans are scheduled to increase, according to last weekend's Sunday Business Post. There's no word yet on what the increase is.

Just to re-iterate: under Open Enrolment regulations, like all health insurers, VHI CANNOT refuse to let you switch to a corporate plan regardless of your age, health status, employer, etc. But make sure to check that you're happy with the benefits available on the corporate plan before switching as it may not be identical to your current plan.

Fore Iron

Can anyone confirm this for me...

Corporate plans by law are available for anyone to sign up to. Fair enough. But are they different plans to your ususal Plan A-E & options etc, etc. In other words, if I am on Plan B option now, can I actually move onto Plan B option under a corporate scheme and pay less?

The only thing I can find seems to suggest that staying on my current plan under a corporate scheme will give me a 10% discount on my premium, which is what I can get under a group scheme anyway.

If corporate schemes save you money but in the process require you to have a totally different policy and completely change your benefits in the process, is that not similar to just going back to Healthsteps or whatever and paying less for less, if you get what I mean!!

NuMarvel

The corporate plans are just another range of plans that are called Company Plan 1 or Biz Plan for CompanyCare to make it look to corporate customers that the plans are "tailor made" for them. They are similar to the standard plans, because companies don't want to suddenly find out that one of their employees doesn't have the cover that would be expected.

Depending on the insurer and the plans, there can be some benefit differences, but nothing quite as drastic as going from Plan B to Healthsteps. For example, the maternity benefit on Quinn's Essential plan (Plan A type plan) is better than the corporate equivalent.

The HIA's website comparison tool that Dak links to earlier in the thread will show the main difference between up to 3 different plans at a time. I'd also recommend asking your insurer what benefits you're losing before making any change.