Health insurance customers in Ireland who took out entry-level plans now paying too much

Up to 50,000 people may now be paying too much as they have failed to review their cover. This is because they took out entry-level plans in 2015 for themselves and their families just to get into the system to avoid future loadings.

Many have not changed health insurance plans since.

Life Community Rating was introduced eight years ago to encourage younger people to take up health insurance early to avoid age loadings.

The rules mean anyone over the age of 34 and who never had health insurance previously is charged a 2pc loading on the gross premium for every year. That means a 44-year-old is 10 years over the threshold and will have a 20pc loading on their gross premium, according to Dermot Goode of TotalHealthCover.ie.

He said that around 100,000 consumers had taken out health insurance just before the deadline of April 30, 2015.

But Mr Goode said half of these had taken out an entry-level plan for themselves and their families just to get into the system.

Many are now due to renew their policies.

Mr Goode said: “Because they have not reviewed their cover, they are potentially significantly over-paying as they have auto-renewed their policies since 2015. They mistakenly believe that they still hold the cheapest cover, which is not the case.”

He said some older entry-level plans for public hospital cover had now become very expensive for adults.

He said this was particularly the case with Laya’s Assure Ideal plan – which is €1,191 a year for an adult. By comparison, Laya’s Essential Assist is €931, while its Future Protect Choice is €920.

Irish Life Health’s Select plan costs €660, its Day-to-Day Focus plan is €870, while its Level 1 Hospital plan is €1,085.

He said VHI’s entry-level plans were still well priced and many of the older schemes had been discontinued.

For those who just want basic cover for public hospitals only, he recommended Laya Assure Protect at €513 per adult and €157 per child.

For those with Irish Life Health, Mr Goode recommended the entry-level plan First Cover at €464 per adult and €176 per child.

When it comes to VHI, Mr Goode recommended PublicPlus Care at €486 per adult and €134 per child.

Those on dated plans could pay similar premium but upgrade their cover to include public and private hospital cover by considering Laya’s Signify at €966 per adult and €271 per child, Irish Life Health’s Benefit Access 300 at €967 per adult and €239 per child, and VHI’s Enhanced Care 350 at €945 per adult and €201 per child.

Mr Goode said anyone who had just renewed would have a 14-day cooling-off period that would allow them to amend or even cancel their cover.

“Many parents took out these entry-level plans on behalf of their adult dependants. They need to check their plans now to see if they have them insured on some of the older, more expensive options,” he said.