It is not possible to purchase health insurance through the HIA, so please exercise caution when sharing information online. Buying or renewing health insurance soon?
Step 4: Filter Your Options
Before entering into a health insurance contract, you should check what level of hospital accommodation cover you have. Read our guide to choosing a health insurance policy for more detailed information. We have lots of helpful information about health insurance on our website, including our free comparison tool. Depending on your policy, you may get some money back for outpatient consultant services. You won’t have cover for inpatient consultant services provided during a stay in hospital. You can buy a cash plan from HSF Health Plan, Irish Life Health, Laya Healthcare or Vhi Healthcare.
Similarly, if you are admitted to hospital, you will need to tell the hospital whether you want to be admitted as a public patient or a private patient. Any person who is ordinarily resident in the Republic of Ireland can buy health insurance regardless of age, gender, health status or medical history. The data presented on this website is submitted by regulated insurers and is published by the HIA following a quality assurance process undertaken by the HIA. This will bring you directly to a comparison page showing just the plans you’ve selected.
It will make it easier for you to understand your options and choose a health insurance plan. Our comparison tool is independent and impartial . It might be useful to think about how often you expect to claim under a particular benefit and work out whether it’s good value for you to have this benefit in your policy. This means that even if you have cover for a private room, you may have to share a room if there are no private rooms available. You should check the level of cover and the terms and conditions before you enter into any health insurance contract.
In general, health insurance policies are 12-month contracts. If you have completed your new customer waiting periods, you will be covered immediately for any pre-existing condition. Anyone can buy health insurance regardless of age, gender, health status or medical history. These policies provide fixed amounts of money regardless of the actual cost of your medical expenses.
Your rights as a health insurance consumer
Foreign health insurance is not always taken into account when calculating your waiting periods. Contact your insurer directly to find out more about switching policies mid-contract. If you switch insurers mid-contract, you may be charged a cancellation fee. All insurers must provide a 14-day cooling-off period from the renewal date. You can switch insurer or policy at your next renewal date.
What kind of hospital accommodation will I get with private health insurance?
- If you are not willing to take this risk, choose a policy without an excess.
- For example, if you need regular physiotherapy, you should choose a policy that has good outpatient cover.
- However, you should be prepared to pay a shortfall, as most policies cover only a portion of the fees, and the outpatient consultant fees may cost some several thousand euro more.
- Health insurance cash plans are not subject to Lifetime Community Rating loadings.
- Some cash plans provide money back for outpatient expenses such as GP visits or physiotherapy.
- It is not possible to purchase health insurance through the HIA, so please exercise caution when sharing information online.
Depending on your level of cover, your health insurance may not fully cover the total cost of your stay in hospital. However, some policies have limited cover or cover only a semi-private room. There are no private maternity hospitals in Ireland.
You must keep copies of your receipts to claim back this tax relief. You don’t need to claim the tax relief from Revenue. This means that the tax relief is automatically given as a discount on the cost of your policy.
- The health insurance system in Ireland adopts what is called Lifetime Community Rating.
- These policies provide fixed amounts of money regardless of the actual cost of your medical expenses.
- We provide impartial information about health insurance to the public, and we have a free online health insurance comparison tool.
- Next, the tool will ask you to choose between the different levels of cover for each of your preferred coverage areas, with reference to the potential cost.
- If you are pregnant and you are ordinarily resident in Ireland, you are entitled to free maternity care under the Maternity and Infant Care Scheme.
- This means that even if you have cover for a private room, you may have to share a room if there are no private rooms available.
Depending on your policy, you may also get some cover for outpatient consultant services, but you may have to pay an excess. Depending lucknation casino no deposit bonus on your policy, you may get cover for a semi-private or a private room. Your outpatient benefits depend on your level of cover. If you have a break in health insurance cover of more than 13 weeks, you may have to serve new customer waiting periods again.
The credits and levy are administered by the insurers and the Risk Equalisation Fund. It is important to speak with the insurer directly before you buy a policy to understand how any part of the policy may be discounted. In most cases the price on our comparison tool does not include a discount. Some insurers automatically include this discount in their prices. An insurer can offer a group discount of up to 10% on any policy to a group of people.
However, the insurer may waive the waiting period at their discretion. For more information, go to upgrade waiting periods. For example, you might be able to move from one Laya Healthcare policy to a different Laya Healthcare policy.
Choosing a policy
When you are admitted to the hospital, the hospital may ask you to sign a public hospital waiver form. As of April 2023, if you are admitted to a public hospital as a public patient, there is no charge for treatment. However, this is subject to availability in the hospital. If you are not covered by your insurance, you may have to pay for the treatment yourself. If you are aged 35 or above, a Lifetime Community Rating loading may also be added to the cost of your policy.
How to use our health insurance comparison tool
When we know enough about what you’re looking for, you will be shown the most suitable plans for you based on your answers. Next, the tool will ask you to choose between the different levels of cover for each of your preferred coverage areas, with reference to the potential cost. In order to do this, you will be asked to rank nine different health insurance coverage areas from most to least important to you.
Can anyone buy private health insurance?
The health insurance system in Ireland is called Lifetime Community Rating. In some cases, your insurer may allow you to switch contracts during the term of your 12-month contract. The cost of the policy must be the same regardless of your age, except in the case where children and young adults may be entitled to discounts. However, if you are aged you may get a young adult rate on certain policies.
A cash play may be useful for you if you don’t have inpatient health insurance or if your inpatient health insurance policy doesn’t have good outpatient cover. Time spent covered under a health insurance cash plan will not exempt you from a Lifetime Community Rating loading if you buy an inpatient health insurance policy after the age of 35. Most cash plans offer significant outpatient benefits. Cash plans don’t provide cover for a hospital stay as a private patient. Unlike inpatient health insurance policies, they don’t provide cover for a hospital stay as a private patient. If you have health insurance, you can claim tax relief on the portion of your medical costs not covered by your insurer.
For example, if you paid €60 for a GP visit and you already got €20 from your health insurance, you can claim tax relief on the remaining €40. This means you will need to claim medical insurance tax relief from Revenue. If your employer pays for your health insurance as a benefit-in-kind, you will be taxed on the gross value of your policy.