Cash plans fill some health insurance gaps

Employee benefits specialists now recommend cash plans in addition to private health insurance. For a small weekly fee, these schemes help members recover some of the costs not provided for by VHI and BUPA. Coverage for out-patient expenses such as dental and optical, alternative therapies and day surgery are available in amounts varying by plan purchased.

The two main providers in the Republic are HSA Healthcare and the Hospital Saturday Fund. HSA Healthcare provides 20 annual benefits covering the entire family, no matter how many members, for a single weekly contribution. Members can make any number of claims up to their maximum benefit in each area. For example, the most popular family plan is £4.80 (€6.09) per week. This provides annual benefits for each family member of up to £90 dental, £84 optical, £30 general practitioner (GP) fees and £240 alternative medicine.

This plan is particularly good value for larger families because they'll receive the most benefit for the price.

The Hospital Saturday Fund (HSF) is smaller in membership size and provides fewer benefits than its competitor. However, it offers a number of group employee schemes ranging from £1 to £7 per week. One of the more popular plans is Scheme 400, which at £4 per week offers half the cost of annual dental and optical treatment up to £200. Some therapies - physiotherapy, osteopathy, chiropractice, acupuncture, homoeopathy and chiropody - are also covered at half the cost of annual treatment up to £300.

GP visits are limited to 10 in any 12 consecutive calendar months regardless of which eligible registered person is the patient. This is covered at £8 per visit under Scheme 400. HSF says all its benefits are tax free and easy to claim with the form provided.

The HSF and HSA Healthcare plans may also offer benefits or once-off annual grants for hospital and hospice care, recuperation, day case surgery/treatment, maternity or adoption, specialist treatments (X-rays, scans, ECGs, etc), and disability to a varying degree based on the plan and scheme.

Since GPs and specialists are increasingly performing more procedures on an out-patient basis, a cash plan provides additional insurance against funding shortfalls in this area.