Health insurance coverage when switching employers

Housebuyer2019

My husband's current employer pays for us both with Irish Life Health.

He's looking to move jobs soon, and the prospective employers he's looking at all offer health insurance as standard.

I'm in the process of getting my wisdom teeth out with a consultant so hoping to have this covered by insurance.

I'm wondering if switching providers will lead to a waiting period before we can make any claims? Or is it typical to ask that we can see out the end of the policy under his old employer (paying off if necessary) before starting the next policy with his new employer?

coylemj

Housebuyer2019 wrote: »

I'm wondering if switching providers will lead to a waiting period before we can make any claims?

Only if the new policy has better benefits and you are claiming for something that was not covered under the old policy.

If the treatment was/is covered by both the old and new policies then there is no waiting period.

Edit: looks like none of the insurers impose a waiting period for outpatient treatment on an upgrade so you shouldn't have a problem....

https://www.hia.ie/consumer-information/switchingupgrade-waiting-periods

Housebuyer2019

coylemj wrote: »

Only if the new policy has better benefits and you are claiming for something that was not covered under the old policy.

If the treatment was/is covered by both the old and new policies then there is no waiting period.

Edit: looks like none of the insurers impose a waiting period for outpatient treatment on an upgrade so you shouldn't have a problem....

https://www.hia.ie/consumer-information/switchingupgrade-waiting-periods

Excellent, thanks for the link! We've had the cover quite a while and I've put getting my teeth sorted on the long finger until now so would be raging if we lost out over the move.

GerardKeating

Housebuyer2019 wrote: »

He's looking to move jobs soon, and the prospective employers he's looking at all offer health insurance as standard.

You are assuming the new employeer use a different provider. But even if the same Health Insurance provider, it might be a different plan.

The basic rule when switching plans or providers is the same, if the procedure is covered under both plans, there is no waiting period.

If the new plan has additional cover, there might be a waiting period for that.

You might also carefully review the plan/provider from the new employeer, to make sure you are not losing anything.

coylemj

GerardKeating wrote: »

You are assuming the new employeer use a different provider.

She needed to cover that possibility because her husband is looking at multiple prospective employers ....

Housebuyer2019 wrote: »

He's looking to move jobs soon, and the prospective employers he's looking at all offer health insurance as standard.