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Health
Aviva health insurance to increase its premiums by 5.2%
The increases will be imposed from 1 January 2014, with Aviva stating the government’s recent decision on rates means the new bed charge is 10.8 times the old charge.
TODAY AVIVA HEALTH Insurance announced that it is to increase its premiums by an average of 5.2 per cent grosson a range of plans effective from 1 January, 2014.
Aviva said that it “greatly regrets” that it has to impose the additional increase which they said is due to the “impact of recent changes in government policy on public hospital bed charges”.
They added that the increase in the cost of claims has been driven upwards by the shift in the age composition of their customer base.
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Government policy
They added that the Government’s decision last Friday not to reduce the rates set out in legislation passed by the Oireachtas last July which allows privately insured patients to be charged for the use of a public bed in a public hospital, was a contributing factor. They stated that the decision means that the new bed charge is up to 10.8 times the old charge. They stated:
From the 1 January next, our customers will be charged up to €813 per night when they occupy a public bed in a public hospital. The current charge is €75 per night. This new charge directly increases the cost of providing cover for our members.
Plans
Aviva did state however that a number of their policies will not see an increase, adding that they are not increasing the price of popular plans such as some of the recently launched affordable entry level plans, Family Focus and Future Focus. Level 2 Complete Health is also not being increased.
Aviva’s CEO, Alison Burns said “we are deeply conscious of the struggle our customers face to maintain their health cover. That is why we have decided not to increase the price of some of our popular entry level plans”. She said:
Those due to renew in January and February already face premium increases as a result of the government’s decision to reduce tax relief. With this in mind, we have held our increase to the absolute minimum of an average of 5.2 per cent.
Burns stated that government’s recent policy changes have “severely disrupted” the health insurance market. She concluded that “as a responsible regulated insurer” they must ensure that they are in a position to pay the claims of our customers when they get sick.
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How much does a person without Health Insurance pay for a public bed in a public hospital? It surely can’t be over €800 and if it’s not this price why should a person who pays health insurance not get the same rates as everyone else. I pay Health Insurance but I also pay the same taxes as everyone so I don’t see why the Government needs to charge a private health insurance customer such an extraordinary fee for the same bed.
There’s a strong case to be made for allowing patients on waiting lists here fly to the UK or elsewhere in the EU to have operations, with medical clearance obviously, and the HSE picks up the bill here for it.
I’d say it would work out cheaper very often, save lives, and reduce queues too.
Luke I think we’re probably at a time when most people would outsource our entire public service to someone else if they could. We’ve made an absolute mess of everything and nobody seems to have any idea how to fix it. Do we have best practice in any of our public sectors? And before anyone takes my head off I’m not attacking the day to day staff, the system is broken and no amount of good staff can repair something which is so fundamentally broken.
Just to clarify, private insurance does not allow people to queue jump in a public hospital. If your treatment can be performed in a private hospital then yes it will be quicker privately but as a private patient in a public hospital the waiting is the same.
€ 100 per day to a Max of €700 in the year, and it don’t matter if your are public or private you get the shame care from the nurses, and the same food. The only difference is getting there faster
For the first time I’m going out in the big bad world without health insurance as anytime I go to use it it’s not available for whatever I want.
I am putting the cash straight into a savings account instead!
Health insurance for the average person is a pure waste of money. I’ve paid about €25k over last 14 years for it.
Total payout to hospitals etc: €4k.
Should have put it into copper…
Well, it’s one of those things that you only appreciate the one time you need it. My cousin had it all his life and stopped paying last year, now he has serious heart problems and he’s looking at 2-5 year waiting list (it would be about 1-4 months if he kept his health insurance)
Private health insurance is like the lotto. If your numbers come up and you don’t have the ticket for are f@@#ed if you get sick and no health insurance, well you get the gist
Think the minister is getting strategy totally wrong – surely putting up public hospital costs for patients with health insurance will only prove negative – now much cheaper to get treatment in a private hospital
I can see an opening for private clinics /hospitals and insurance companies having policies to cover the mundane procedures carried out in public hospitals. In addition to the policies that cover the likes of the Mater an Bkackrock
Seeing as approx 50% of population still have health insurance why is there no private a&e service available outside Dublin? Would be much quicker, cheaper and efficient. Many treatments are still only available in the public hospitals.
Seeing as approx 50% of population still have health insurance why is the no private a&e service available outside Dublin? Would be much quicker, cheaper and efficient. Many treatments are still only available in the public hospitals.
Had to give up our health insurance 2 years ago.Still nervous about decision but just couldn’t keep it going! Was costing nearly as much as our mortgage yearly!
Think the bold Reilly was claiming there would be no increase in health insurance after his changes in the budget. That claim can be filled under bull shit along with his free medical insurance for all plan…..
I have health insurance with vhi which is due for renewal in january. I’m dreading getting the renewal notice as I know the premium will have gone up. As it is vhi sent me a letter a couple of weeks ago trying to justify price increases. Only thing I dont know yet is exactly how much the increase will be. Just hope it doesn’t go up so much that i have to give up my health insurance. I know I’m not the only one in this position.
Aoife ,shop around. I got lower premium than the vhi, with aviva, I had to drop full cover for partial on the Mater/Black rock and with three of us on the policy it made a huge difference, same cover with VHI was €1000 dearer.
Hear, hear. We renewed ours last month – the quotation for our plan from Laya was 1000 more than the year before, so I went online and discovered they have a better plan, and for the old price, but it is only advertised to employers? A quick call and now we are paying the same as last year, for a better cover.
I’m so nervous not to have it…. But the last few times I’ve needed to use it I’ve had to pay the hospitals directly myself & then reclaim (a portion!) this kills me nearly as much as the premiums. Nobody plans on being ill & if your paying for the insurance you’d expect to have peace of mind about the hospital fees!
What do you need health insurance for, if you get sick there is a duty of care to ensure you are looked after. Gave mine up once I was made redundant a few years ago, saved near 10k which would have been spent on unnecessary insurance.
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