Policy change during period of insurance

Rket4000

Would welcome views on this.

I have a medical appointment coming up and I decided to check if my health insurance policy with VHI would cover some or part of the cost. However for the past few years I have received my renewal online. When I checked the email which gave me the link to the policy documents I kept getting "request refused". I tried searching the HIA website to see if I could find the policy but it didn't appear there either. I rang VHI and queried whether I had the relevant cover and the lady I spoke to explained what cover is in place. Then today, 3 days after my query, I got a notification from VHI telling me that the policy I have is now replaced with a different policy and provided with a table of contents which only shows the changes between the two policies - I was able to find my "new" policy online where I can see exactly what is and isn't covered.

My question is - can they actually change the policy I have 10 months into the year and why was I only told this after I contacted them?

Jim2007

In terms of changes to a policy it really depends on the terms of the policy you took out. If they are making the changes it’s a fair bet that they are entitled to do so, but read the terms of your contract.

Assuming you have purchased a standard product I very much doubt the two events are related.

coylemj

My question is - can they actually change the policy I have 10 months into the year ...

The answer is that they can't but you've told us that you renewed on the same plan for the past few years so it's most likely that the policy benefits changed a while back and would have applied from the date of your next renewal. Your benefits can't change between renewals, the policy terms and conditions are set on the day you renew or take out a new policy.

... why was I only told this after I contacted them?

If you're not changing your policy i.e. you renew on the same plan, you need to download and study the table of benefits every time you renew because the benefits can change from one year to the next i.e. just because the plan you're on has the same name as the plan you were on last year doesn't mean the schedule of benefits (what is and is not covered) hasn't changed.

I suspect that, by blindly renewing on the same plan every year, you've fallen into this trap....