Are you paying too much for your health insurance? Up to 50,000 people may be overpaying as they took out entry-level plans in 2015 just to avoid future loadings. The Life Community Rating was introduced to encourage younger people to take up health insurance, and anyone over the age of 34 who never had health insurance previously is charged a 2% loading on their gross premium for every year. That means a 44-year-old will have a 20% loading on their gross premium. However, many people have not reviewed their cover since taking out the entry-level plan and are potentially significantly overpaying. Dermot Goode of TotalHealthCover.ie recommends reviewing your policy as half of the 100,000 people who took out health insurance just before the deadline of April 2015 only took out an entry-level plan for themselves and their families just to get into the system. Many older entry-level plans for public hospital cover have become expensive, so it might be time to consider upgrading your plan. VHI’s entry-level plans are still well-priced, while Laya Assure Protect and Irish Life Health’s First Cover are recommended entry-level plans for those who just want basic cover for public hospitals only. However, those on dated plans could pay similar premiums to upgrade their cover to include public and private hospital cover by considering Laya’s Signify, Irish Life Health’s Benefit Access 300, and VHI’s Enhanced Care 350. If you have just renewed, you have a 14-day cooling-off period that allows you to amend or even cancel your cover. Don’t hesitate to review your cover now to avoid overpaying.
