Not everyone wants health insurance or agrees with it as a principle. But for those who do want to take out cover, or those who worry affordability might force them to drop theirs, leading health insurance expert Dermot Goode is urging people to brace themselves.
“I have to say now to your listeners that they really have to budget for maybe 5 to 10 per cent of increases each year because [of] medical inflation,” he tells the latest episode of the Better with Money podcast.
What’s medical inflation, we hear you exclaim. Essentially it’s the creeping cost of delivering health services, incorporating factors like wages, medical devices and hospital running costs. It outpaces general consumer inflation and is running between 6 and 9 per cent.
But if there’s a positive side to our health insurance market, or Goode news if you’ll excuse the pun, it’s that companies can never penalise you for claiming.
“They can never give you a bonus or reward you for not claiming, so you should claim everything. Once you’ve served all your waiting periods with one provider, and if you switch to another provider, they must take you on. They must cover all the existing conditions. They can never refuse to renew your cover. They can never load your premium because you cost them hundreds of thousands of euro.”
Goode estimates three-quarters of policyholders can save money on their cover by switching to a different plan, even if they stay with the same insurance company.
“They’re on the same plan for more than five years. They’re spending maybe 2½ to three thousand per adult. They won’t take on a small excess. They think they can’t join these corporate plans. They’ve all the family on the same plan. These are all indicators that you are overspending.”
Between the four main insurers and the new entrant to the market, Level Health (underwritten by Aviva), Ireland has about 325 plans from which to pick. That begs the obvious question: “How do you choose without becoming bamboozled and overwhelmed?”
Goode says that people shouldn’t be doing the research themselves. Instead, they should be calling their insurer and making them do the donkey work. He recommends blocking out half an hour, grabbing a big cup of coffee and keeping a call centre worker on the phone.
“First question is, ‘I want you to check all your plans to see do you have something similar?’ Never use the word identical because they won’t have an identical plan that’s cheaper. There’ll always be minor differences.
“If they say, ‘Yeah, we do have something here which sounds promising,’ so then the next question is, ‘Great. Now tell me how does that compare to what I have? And really what am I losing, what am I gaining, and what stays the same?’”
Naturally, the agent will tell you you’re in for a host of great benefits. Goode has a script for that eventuality too.
“Then the next question is, ‘Well, do I have to wait or do I get it straight away?’”
Save water, energy and your sanity by skipping ChatGPT for your health insurance queries and listening to this episode instead.
You won’t hear pre-existing conditions, the upgrade rule or splitting family cover explained this accessibly anywhere else.
Goode also gives his recommendations for dental plans, avoiding startling excess costs and how people on lower incomes may want to avail of HSF cash plans that would cover out-of-pocket medical expenses.
You can listen to this conversation on the player above or search for Better with Money wherever you get your podcasts.
- This episode is brought to you in association with Standard Life
