Renewing Health Insurance after serious illness in the last year

redser7

Hi – I would really appreciate some help here please.
My mother recently underwent major surgery to treat cancer. She came through it fine but five days later took a turn and went rapidly downhill. She ended up in ICU where things got so bad we were told that she would not make it through the night. She got the last rites and we said our goodbyes.
A week later and she is still with us and relatively stable. But she is still very much in a critical condition on a ventilator. Her eyes are lively but she does not focus on us or respond to stimulus. Her limbs are not moving. It is a day by day situation and we hope for continued improvements.
My question - we just received her Health Insurance renewal forms in the post. This needs to be addressed by January 1st but with Christmas coming up we need to do this pretty sharpish. The form says we need to inform the company of any new material changes to her health. The cancer diagnosis was only made in September and obviously things are dire right now and the future is uncertain. Can anybody shed some light on how the company (VHI) will respond when we tell them what is happening? Can they refuse to renew her policy? Will they increase the premiums? Thanks for any insights on what we should do or expect.

Gael23

My understanding is that if you maintain the same policy then nothing changes. Only if she increases her cover will anything to do with her cancer not be covered.

caviardreams

Gael23 wrote: »

My understanding is that if you maintain the same policy then nothing changes. Only if she increases her cover will anything to do with her cancer not be covered.

This is correct - they can't discriminate against you or charge a higher premium based on your health history, so don't worry. Everybody pays the same premium (apart from the over 35 loading charge).

As Gael says, if you were to upgrade your cover a waiting period would apply for any pre-existing conditions but if you are keeping the same plan or level of cover with a different plan, then there will be no changes or waiting periods.

nomdeboardie

My sympathies about your family’s situation, OP, and I wish your mother the best for recovery.

I agree with the above answers. (And, to clarify, I think that if the cover is increased she would still be covered at the old level of benefit, it’s just that the new level of benefit would not kick in for a specified number of years.)

Long-winded version: My understanding of Irish community-rated health insurance (VHI etc) is that they can only consider health status and history in the context of deciding whether a condition is pre-existing at the time of the treatment for which you claim and then only if you’re in the initial “waiting period” after initiating a policy or waiting for enhanced benefits to kick in after an upgrade. They will already be aware of her condition when you claim for the current treatment and (presuming that she didn’t take out the policy recently) will be bound to pay for it, and any future covered treatment as long as you keep renewing. In fact, I she could even switch providers without having to serve a new waiting period no matter what her health history (as far as I know).

redser7

Thanks folks for the replies! That's all very reassuring. She's been religious in her attitude to private health insurance all her life and it's only fair she gets the benefit now that she needs it.
Cheers