Firstly, the three insurers operating in Ireland – VHI Healthcare, Laya Healthcare and Irish Life Healthcare – all frequently roll out new plans to attract consumers into the market and the newer policies are almost always cheaper than the legacy ones.
Despite such savings less than a third of the 2 million or so people with health insurance have changed plans over the last two years which leaves about 1.5 million people who have stayed put. Neither of these things are true and if you have insurance with Company A and have already sat out your waiting periods with that company then if you switch to Company B then all the existing cover that you had with Company A rolls over to your new provider. If Company B offers enhanced cover you may have to wait for that to kick in but whatever you had, you keep.
This call is always easiest with your existing insurer – so that should be your first call. Your existing provider will have a complete record of all previous claims so tell them everything that’s important to you and detail all your underlying conditions and the procedures you’ve had done, and get them to confirm that any new and cheaper plan covers everything you have had covered in the past.