Are you one of the 2.5 million Irish people who currently carry private health insurance? If you are, then you will not be surprised at this column’s concern over recent events.
My private health insurance falls due on December 1st every year. I have been with my health insurance provider for the last five years, during which time there was a not-unexpected increase in premiums, year-on-year. But these increases were never more than single-digit percentage hikes.
When I received my annual renewal notice earlier this month I was shocked to see a 26 per cent fee increase in order for my wife and I to retain the same level of cover. The company wanted us to pay an additional €900 for next year in order to maintain our current plan.
I consider this level of percentage increase exorbitant. And while insurance companies refer to the cost of medical inflation every time they increase their prices, I am not aware of any statistic that suggests the additional cost of providing private healthcare is in excess of 25 per cent.
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So, it was time to look for a more reasonable option. There are approximately 350 plans on the private health insurance market, so you will not be surprised that it took me several days to narrow the choices down. While the Health Insurance Authority (HIA) website provides a comparison facility, it is a little clunky. In the end, I had no choice but to telephone my health insurance provider to establish the least expensive premium for our specific needs.
[ The health insurance maze that’s costing millions of people thousandsOpens in new window ]
I have to say, I found the agent who eventually picked up the call to be extremely pleasant and well informed. He spent about 40 minutes on the phone painstakingly going through possible alternatives. We narrowed it down to one probable option and one possible choice for us to think about.
A fourth private health insurance provider, Level Health, has just announced its entry to the Irish market. It says it will have just four products available at reduced prices
Now if I, as a qualified and experienced medical professional, found it difficult to narrow down the myriad options available from the three health insurers’ many plans, it suggests that for many readers the exercise would represent a Herculean task. A Health Insurance Authority (HIA) conference in September this year was told that some 71 per cent of Irish people have never switched policy and could potentially be paying more than they need to for health insurance. “Due to the wide range of health insurance plans available, consumers find it challenging to choose the best products for their needs,” it said in a press release.
According to the HIA’s 2023 consumer survey, of those with health insurance who have switched, more than half have only done so once. The HIA says it is looking for a simplification of the market, pointing out that the current complexity does not benefit any stakeholder in the health insurance industry, least of all the consumer.
There may be some light on the horizon for consumers. A fourth private health insurance provider, Level Health, has just announced its entry to the Irish market. It says it will have just four products available at reduced prices. The venture is 50 per cent owned by insurance giant Aviva.
[ The trouble with health insurance in Ireland, and what could be done about itOpens in new window ]
Meanwhile, you may be interested in one of the factors that influenced our final decision on a replacement insurance product. As late middle-agers, we are getting to a stage where the replacement of a hip or knee is a distinct possibility. But beware. Many of the plans now limit their cover to 80 per cent of the cost of orthopaedic procedures, leaving you to cough up in the region of €4,000 from your savings if you need a hip replaced. The same rule applies to cataract surgery. In order to retain full cover at a reasonable price, however, we had to accept a much larger excess in the event of a private hospital admission.
Our health insurance market is anything but consumer-friendly. It is in dire need of an injection of real competition.