Renewing health insurance, advice on plans?

foxy_j

Hi all,

Myself and my husband currently are with Laya on the Flex explore 500 plan.

It's up for renewal and a price hike naturally.

I was looking at two other plans, either go with one similar in price; Signify or lower our cover a bit with; Precision 600 connect.

I'm just wondering of we need the hi tech hospital cover etc that's on our current plan/access to most private hospitals at our age?

We're in dublin, in good health and in our mid-late 30's.

My husband doesn't play rugby anymore and we wouldn't really benefit from money back on day to day GP visits. We may make use of any money back on dental/optical.

We find it handy alright at the moment availing of the free online GP video doc, physio etc. So going forward it'd be handy having the 3 visits a year included on a plan.

Any thoughts to help us decide? Thanks

The J Stands for Jay

foxy_j wrote: »

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My husband doesn't play rugby anymore and we wouldn't really benefit from money back on day to day GP visits. We may make use of any money back on dental/optical.

Nobody really benefits from GP visit cover, you should drop this part straight off.

SouthWesterly

Check out hia.ie for comparisons

foxy_j

SouthWesterly wrote: »

Check out hia.ie for comparisons

Ya I have done that already, thanks. I just wasn't sure whether at our age we need the hi tech hospital cover or not!?

coylemj

foxy_j wrote: »

Ya I have done that already, thanks. I just wasn't sure whether at our age we need the hi tech hospital cover or not!?

'hi tech' seems to me to be a simple way for medical insurance companies to segregate certain hospitals so that cover for them can be left out of certain plans.

It's all a game really. For example, on a webpage under a bannner: 'What Is a High-Tech Hospital?' Irish Life says the following....

The Blackrock Clinic, the Mater Private and the Beacon Hospital are the only three high-tech hospitals in Ireland.

But two sentences later......

On Level 1 plans* the high tech hospitals are the Blackrock Clinic, the Mater Private and the Beacon Hospital, the Hermitage Clinic and the Galway Clinic.

https://help.irishlifehealth.ie/hc/en-us/articles/360000480858-What-Is-a-High-Tech-Hospital-

So the Hermitage and the Galway Clinic are only categorised as 'hi tech' on their cheaper plans. See what I mean?

For any of the usual suspects, you need to check the schedule of cover for the plans you're looking at to see which hospitals they consider 'hi tech' and decide if you might need to be treated in one of them.

It usually comes down to the consultant you end up geting referred to. All of the private hospitals (hi tech or not) have more or less the same standard of diagnostic equipment, nursing care etc.

foxy_j

coylemj wrote: »

'hi tech' seems to me to be a simple way for medical insurance companies to segregate certain hospitals so that cover for them can be left out of certain plans.

It's all a game really. For example, on a webpage under a bannner: 'What Is a High-Tech Hospital?' Irish Life says the following....



But two sentences later......



https://help.irishlifehealth.ie/hc/en-us/articles/360000480858-What-Is-a-High-Tech-Hospital-

So the Hermitage and the Galway Clinic are only categorised as 'hi tech' on their cheaper plans. See what I mean?

For any of the usual suspects, you need to check the schedule of cover for the plans you're looking at to see which hospitals they consider 'hi tech' and decide if you might need to be treated in one of them.

It usually comes down to the consultant you end up geting referred to. All of the private hospitals (hi tech or not) have more or less the same standard of diagnostic equipment, nursing care etc.

Thanks so much, this was really helpful. I don't think we need all the Hi-tech hospital cover so I think we're gong to go with the Signify plan.

jimmycrackcorm

McGaggs wrote: »

Nobody really benefits from GP visit cover, you should drop this part straight off.

I use the Laya doctor Video call which is currently free to use, and likely to continue to be so. Certainly useful enough family-wide.