Private Medical Insurance

Hi Ruddy! Would also appreciate your opinions if possible! Family of 4 (male 39, female 37 and a 3 and 4 year old). Currently with VHI on their PMI 04 10 plan. Due to renew in a few weeks but trying to reduce costs if possible as funds are tight as a single income family at the moment.

Wife has migraine issues which are currently being managed by a high tech injection paid through the Drug Payment Scheme. I'm due a sleep study in 2 weeks to determine if I have sleep apnoea. Kids are generally very healthy, though we have claimed for an adenoidectomy and grommets for one of them last year.

I would maybe see a GP once a year, wife maybe 4-5 times. Don't think maternity cover is of importance to us any more!

Awesome, will check these out. Thanks for the guidance!

Hi Ruddy,

I'm on the VHI PMI 53 10. My employer used to pay the premiums but I left that employer 4 years ago and continued paying myself (40M).

I haven't needed to use hospitals, etc. in the last few years so I'm looking to move to a cheaper option. A public hospital is good enough, looking to cover some consultant/test costs and maybe GP fees. The excess on my current plan GP fees was €10, and I got back €25 on a charge of €70. Not great so if the monthly payments are very low and don't cover GP fees, i'll be fine with that.

I only continued with insurance due to the excess/loading on people who haven't had insurance etc.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Ended up going with Inspire Access saving almost €600 a year, cover is very similar to the plan I was on. Thansk a lot @eastmeathcoast and @ruddy1987 !

I'm on the VHI 35 13 plan. From a previous employer. Expires end of August.

Every year I get notification and say must look at alternatives but its bad time of year with other stuff always on. So this year I am looking now

1 Adult (me) age 50

I would still call my health good but in the past year I have had a few one off things, required stomach scope and had large kidney stone. Everything ok now (touch wood!). They gave rise to GP visits etc and I had opportunity to claim back visits but in 15 years (as employee when originally got scheme and the years since) this is the only claims I have made

Whats important to me

I travel a lot and I suppose knowing I'm covered abroad is important. I also have VHI multitrip.

If i have another procedure / test like this year that I can get it done. I dont mind a largerer excess if the savings makes sense. e.g. if annual savings is greater than one excess then I would select the cheaper plan

Day to day reclaim of expenses is nice but not important. Similar to previous I owuld probably pick the cheaper option

Live in west of country so access to high techs is restricted so not so important

Have a look at PMI 32 12 it is cheaper by 145 EUR p.a. and benefits look slightly better but a very similar plan. If you change provider, Layas Transform Plus (save 260 EUR) and LEvel Health Plan Pro+ (save 119) or Plan C (save 139) worth a look. There are lots of choices for you here for a cheaper plan without much change in benefits tbh. Look up "PMI 35 13" on www.medplan.ie 

Hey Ruddy, thanks so much for the work you put in here …you're helping a lot of people.

We are a family of 4 soon to be 5, I am on Laya Prosper and I use the day to day quite a bit to claim back counselling, GPs, physio, dental etc. My partner and 2 small kids are on Laya Inspire Plus but none of them use the cover (thankfully!!) bar one or two visits over Christmas to the Laya clinic for the kids. We're paying the bones of EUR4,000 a year for all of us and it's just not sustainable, especially adding in another baby in the fold. I would imagine I'm better staying separate as I do claim back for every day expenses, but woud you have any advice for a good policy for the rest of the family to go on? The kids are 3, 1 and the baby arrives in July. Thanks so much!

Hi Ruddy (this thread should be renamed ask Ruddy :-D )

We are on the below plan now for probably 7 years as I originally got it with my old company but kept it going. Not sure if its best value these days as its very expensive, although I know it offers good cover.

I am open to switching but renewal was in Nov 2025 so presume I cant switch until Nov 2026? Do I contact them in October to let them know?

In terms of what I want from a plan, the main thing is to have private consultant procedures covered ie colonoscopy, septoplasty etc.

I think I care less about the 200 euro consultant fee reimbursement (as can claim a decent amount back on tax and its very rare we go to a consultant (missus is foreign and gets most serious stuff done in her home country, I have gone for a few scans and colonoscopy over the past few years), more so care about the surgery etc being covered (but may not be possible to untangle surgeries with initial consultant fees) and skipping the queue so to speak.

Also, we plan on having children in the next year or two so good maternity cover for herself is important.

Better Ultra ILH - 381 Euro for 2 adults Dublin based (both 36 m + f)

EDIT: I should add that I saw a consultant about getting a septoplasty so not sure if I would lose the right to this surgery if I switched provider as it would then be classed as "pre-existing"?

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry I am a bit confused. Why are you saying wait until renewal date if I could in theory switch right now?

Re current condition, so I will be entitled to the lower cover if I reduced cover but then that could mean I wouldnt be covered for the septoplasty potentially? Or would all healthcare plans cover stuff like this?

Thanks again