I’ve made bad decisions when I have gone my own way. Get good advice is my best advice!
Thousands of people are renewing their health insurance right now. So it’s time for a chat with health insurance guru Dermot Goode of Totalhealthcover.ie for some handy tips and advice.
Q. Any tips on shopping for health cover?
A. Here are a few:
Make the insurer work for you by asking the right questions at renewal time. Don’t ask for a general recommendation on any policy. Challenge the insurer to find you ‘the closet equivalent plan to what you currently have in place, but at a lower cost’.
Consider splitting your cover. You don’t have to have children and adults on the same plan and it’s often cheaper with separate ones (see below).
Check out discount offers for kids. (They don’t require adults to be on the same plan).
Get a corporate plan (See next question).
Ask do you really need a private room? You probably won’t get one anyway and they can add hundreds to the cost of cover.
If aged between 18-25, make sure to avail of young adult rates
Q. Name the best health insurance deals for each company you would recommend currently.
A. There are excellent deals available now from all providers, for example: VHI PMI 02 10 @ €1,296 per adult Laya Simply Connect Plus @ €1,250 per adult
Irish Life Health 4D Health 2 @ €1,272 per adult They may not suit everyone but these plans give you excellent hospital cover combined with guaranteed refunds on your out-patient expenses.
Q. You’ve long urged people to review their health cover. Yet the figures remain low for switching despite huge savings. Why?
A. Inertia: fear of change, concern over potential loss of benefits, perceived complexity etc.
Many of these are unfounded as the legislation ensures you get full credit for previous membership so you will not be subject to age loadings or have to re-serve the waiting periods for new members.
We believe that the actual numbers switching are much higher as the figures only show those changing providers but don’t show details for those who’ve changed to a better value plan with the same provider. Older people in particular are paying the highest premiums and they stand to make the biggest savings by shopping around.
Q. If you could pick one choice piece of advice for consumers what would it be?
A. For any type of insurance, consider the worst-case scenario and ask yourself, are you adequately covered? The absolute most important advice I could give anyone is to always read the small print.
Q. What issue makes your blood boil?
A. Charging public patients a private charge just because they have health insurance is a big issue for me. Fifty per cent of consumers take out health insurance because they don’t trust our public system in terms of quick access to elective treatment.
The other issue is that there are no real incentives for young people (aged 26-34) to join. Parents often remove them from their family policy when they turn 25 and ageloading doesn’t kick in until they turn 35. In the interim, many young people exit the system.
Q. Are things getting better for health insurance customers?
A. The market is growing again; insurers are reducing their rates and the Government has signaled no further increase in the health insurance levies for 2018. But it’s a fragile market that is subject to fluctuation, so there is no room for complacency.
Q. What was your biggest financial mistake – and your best?
A. Buying into ‘geared property investments’ (which use loans to buy property) was the worst decision. The best was cutting my losses and getting out early!
Many of my bad decisions were ones I made myself, whereas the best ones were supported by quality independent advice. If it’s complex and you’re not an expert, get good advice.