Health insurers in cut-throat battle to cover families
Price war means savings of up to €650
A CUT-THROAT price war has broken out among private healthcare insurers, with all three slashing the cost of insuring families.
Families with young children are hugely attractive to health insurers because they make fewer claims than older people.
This has prompted the VHI, Aviva and Quinn to discount heavily health plans for adults and to offer to insure children for nothing on some of their plans.
The offers meant families that switch could save up to €650 by signing up for the cut-price deals, health cover broker Dermot Goode said.
"There is good news for consumers, especially for those with families.
"By acting now, they can potentially reduce the cost of insuring children by between 50pc and 100pc for the next 12 months, which could reduce a family's bill by up to €650."
Mr Goode, of Healthinsurancesavings.ie, said health insurers traditionally review their rates in autumn and then impose rises in the new year, but those who act now can lock in the current offer prices for the next year.
The price war has broken out as new figures released yesterday showed that 42,000 people have given up health insurance in the last year.
State health insurance regulator, the Health Insurance Authority, said there were now 2.2 million people with private health insurance -- down 42,000 from the figure in June last year.
And insurers have begun heavily discounting in a desperate bid to keep customers.
The VHI is offering to insure children for nothing on its popular Plan B Parents and Kids policy for those who sign up before October 3 next.
Members who sign up for this deal will save between €191 and €197 for each child. The higher saving is for those who opt to accept an excess. This means the family will have to pay the first €75 of any claim.
Mr Goode said a family with three children would save up to €591 by opting for the Parents and Kids offer.
Aviva is offering its Level 2 Hospital plan at a reduced cost of €780 per adult (normally €825) and €95 per child (normally €190) until the end of this month.
This is one of Aviva's mainstream hospital plans and has no excesses in private hospitals -- in other words, the bill is fully paid. However, this plan has limited cover for routine medical expenses.
Quinn Healthcare is offering free cover for children on its Essential Health plan. However, this is a basic plan with no cover for a private room in a public hospital.
Switching
Quinn is also offering reduced costs for adults, with the rate cut from €730 to €694.
"For someone insured with Quinn on the Essential Plus Excess scheme with two children, they could reduce their costs by €520 by switching the children to the Essential Health Scheme," he said.
Mr Goode said the current offers of free cover for children meant families could reduce their health cover bills even more than the savings available by opting for a 'corporate plan'.
Consumers can cut the cost of their health cover by around €400 and increase the level of benefits by opting for corporate plans.
These plans are available to everyone but healthcare providers do not advertise the fact that they are better value for individuals.
Corporate plans are only marketed to companies when health insurers are trying to sign up all the firm's staff, but by law they must be available to everyone.
- Charlie Weston Personal Finance Editor
Irish Independent
