Laya Healthcare to hike plans for the second time this year

Insurer Laya Healthcare is to increase the cost of its plans for the second time this year with prices set to increase by 1.7 per cent from November 1st.

The company said this will result in an average annual rise of €25 per scheme. However, the increase is far higher than this for some plans.

Laya increased the prices on almost 100 of its plans in July. The latest increase impacts over 60 schemes.

The insurer linked the new price increase to a huge jump in claims for treatments by members in recent years. It said the volume of claims rose 34 per cent from 2015 to 2018 with the cost of such claims, jumping 26 per cent.

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“Advances in medical treatments and technology are driving significant increases in the cost of claims from private and hi-tech hospitals, with a 43 per cent increase between 2015 to 2018, an upward trend expected to be maintained in 2019,” it said.

Rivals VHI and Irish Life Health have also increased prices this year, with VHI announcing a 6 per cent hike and Irish Life raising prices by an average of 3.3 per cent, in June.

“Across the board, the cost of claims is increasing, and we are monitoring this trend and doing all we can for our members to give them the best value health insurance on the market, however it’s becoming more and more challenging to protect our members from premium increases in the face of mounting claims costs,” said Laya managing director Dónal Clancy.