Last week newcomer to the health insurance sector, Vivas claimed it was 20 per cent cheaper on average than VHI, as the battle to win customers hotted up. Laura Slattery sifts through the policies.
Advertisements buried within TV listings pages of newspapers and magazines show a thumb poised over a remote control, ready to flick.
The Health Insurance Authority (HIA), the body charged with regulating the health insurance market in the Republic, has embarked on a campaign to convince consumers that switching health insurers is not only possible, but as simple as pushing a button.
"It's as easy as switching television channels," says a HIA spokesman of the idea behind the campaign. "We're not promoting switching as such, but we hope to make people aware that it's not wrong to switch and that they have a choice. There is no penalty or loss or cover."
The HIA campaign's timing couldn't be nicer for Vivas Health, which is aiming to increase its share of the health insurance market from about 3 per cent - about 60,000 customers - to 5 per cent by the end of the year.
Since the AIB-backed company launched in October 2003 it has been desperately trying to snare consumers away from the long-established State-owned VHI, which still dominates the market with three-quarters of private medical insurance holders on its books, and Bupa Ireland.
Vivas has now responded to VHI's proposed application for a 12.5 per cent increase across all of its core hospital plans by announcing it will cut prices for new customers from the end of July until mid-September by offering a 50 per cent discount on children's premiums.
The insurer, which first ran the offer as a "back-to-school" promotion last year and repeated it January, says the price cut will mean a family of five switching to Vivas Health's We Plan Level 2 from VHI's Plan B will save €471 on their annual premium.
Vivas hopes the threat of higher premiums at VHI will prompt at least some of its 1.55 million customers to take a closer look at what they're paying for health insurance and investigate whether they could get alternative cover for a lower price.
Even a family with one child can make savings of €250 by switching from VHI Plan B to Vivas Health's We Plan Level 2, it points out.
Vivas is keen to promote itself as a family-friendly insurer: apart from the 50 per cent discount on kids' premiums, it has a generous definition of a child, defining children as anyone under the age of 18, but also students and apprentices under the age of 23. Bupa charges students up to the age of 21 the same rate as under-18s, while VHI has a separate student rate for people aged 18-21. This makes VHI less economical for parents with older children who they want to insure.
Vivas chief executive Oliver Tattan claims its latest price cuts mean that Vivas is 28 per cent cheaper than VHI on its family plans, not taking into account the VHI's proposed 12.5 per cent increase, which needs to be approved by the Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney before it can be implemented.
"It is time for more VHI consumers to realise that there are other options open to them," says Tattan. "The days of consumers automatically accepting price increases are over."
But are they? The HIA's spokesman concedes that as with bank accounts and other financial products, there is "some inertia" there. Not many people want to go through the pain of complex form filling even when they know they could pocket a bit of extra cash at the end of it all. "People just can't be bothered," says the HIA spokesman.
Research commissioned by the authority shows that each year only about 1 per cent of consumers switch health insurance provider: it is thought that most who do so are members of group schemes where the choice of insurer is dictated by an employer looking to make company-wide cost savings.
Individuals are nervous about making a move, sometimes believing that Bupa and Vivas offer inferior cover to VHI and they will be safer sticking with what they know. Not many people want to take risks with their health for the sake of a few euro.
In fact, VHI's Plan B - still its most popular product - and the Vivas We Plan Level 2 offer broadly similar levels of cover, while Bupa's Essential Plus is the closest match from its stable of products.
The HIA's research also found that almost 40 per cent of policyholders are unaware that they would not have to serve additional waiting periods if they switch health insurer.
These waiting periods mean that people who are signing up to health insurance for the first time must wait 26 weeks before they can make a claim, except in the case of accidents or injuries. The maximum waiting periods allowed by law increase to 52 weeks for people aged 55-65 and 104 weeks - two years - for people aged 65 and over. There is also a waiting period of 52 weeks for maternity benefits.
But as long as the gap in cover is less than 13 weeks, then anyone who has already sat out the waiting periods with their old insurer, won't have to serve them again with a new insurer before they are entitled to make claim. They are also entitled to a credit for any portion of a waiting period they served at the old insurer. This right is protected by law.
People upgrading to a higher level of cover, however, may have to serve a waiting period of up to two years if they are under 65 and five years if they are 65 and over, but only in respect of the enhanced benefits.
The HIA, which has been instructed by the Minister to facilitate competition in the market, plans to repeat its switching advertising campaign later this year.
Further information on changing health insurer, including a detailed comparison of the benefits offered on VHI, Bupa and Vivas hospital plans, is available on its website, at www.hia.ie.
The Health Insurance Authority can be contacted at 01 406 0080 or by email at info@hia.ie.