Consequences of a Claim

scholar88

I broke my leg playing sport recently. The bills have landed. What are the disadvantages of claiming off my VHI? Will my premium be huge for the next few years? I also heard that I have to stay with VHI for life if I claim off them once. Is this true? Any advice/tips appreciated. I'm in my early twenties so I have no idea about this sorta thing.

dobsdave

scholar88 wrote: »

I broke my leg playing sport recently. The bills have landed. What are the disadvantages of claiming off my VHI? Will my premium be huge for the next few years? I also heard that I have to stay with VHI for life if I claim off them once. Is this true? Any advice/tips appreciated. I'm in my early twenties so I have no idea about this sorta thing.

No disadvantage for you.
Its not like a car/house policy ncb.
You can switch when your policy is up for renewal.
The only thing you have to look out for when switching is waiting periods and if you have an existing condition.

What bills did you get? did you not tell the hospital you had private health insurance at the time you were admitted?

scholar88

I did tell them I had private insurance but last week they sent me out a letter looking for information about the accident/injury which confused me. I never got one before and I've been to A&E three or four times.

So my premium will be the same price either way?? Its the long term which really bothers me.

dobsdave

scholar88 wrote: »

I did tell them I had private insurance but last week they sent me out a letter looking for information about the accident/injury which confused me. I never got one before and I've been to A&E three or four times.

So my premium will be the same price either way?? Its the long term which really bothers me.

Claiming on it will not affect your next premium.Doubt it will be the same the way VHI etc are putting their prices up.

coylemj

scholar88 wrote: »

I did tell them I had private insurance but last week they sent me out a letter looking for information about the accident/injury which confused me.

When a public hospital treats someone who has been involved in a motor accident, they are supposed to charge them the full unsubsidised cost which would typically be a multiple of what a public patient would be charged..

Your injuries are in the same category as someone involved in a motor cycle accident or a pedestrian who was knocked down by a car so they're investigating to see if you were involved in a motor accident, it's routine.

scholar88 wrote: »

So my premium will be the same price either way?? Its the long term which really bothers me.

Yes, your premiums will not be affected. Whoever told you that you're stuck with the VHI for life was talking BS.

Atlantic Dawn

Your health insurance price remains the same whether you have 100 or 0 claims, this is the law. Only restrictions is some will have waiting period of say 3-6 months if you were to say switch from VHI to Aviva and wanted to upgrade your plan to the next level they may not cover for certain conditions for a couple of months, this is to prevent you switching plans to immediately avail of cover for a condition not currently covered on your existing plan.

LostArt

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Your health insurance price remains the same whether you have 100 or 0 claims, this is the law. Only restrictions is some will have waiting period of say 3-6 months if you were to say switch from VHI to Aviva and wanted to upgrade your plan to the next level they may not cover for certain conditions for a couple of months, this is to prevent you switching plans to immediately avail of cover for a condition not currently covered on your existing plan.

This is not necessarily correct, see the hia's site for the current market practice regarding waiting periods
http://www.hia.ie/consumer-information/waiting-periods/switching-upgrade-waiting-periods/