Last month, VHI Healthcare, the oldest and leading private health insurance provider in the country declared that it would be discontinuing some of its most longstanding and favoured plans. Over 10 per cent of the company’s clients, equating to over 130,000 people, would be affected by the discontinuation of the HealthPlus plans, many of which were derivatives of the historic Plan B. Many of these clients were left unhappy by the announcement.
A customer named Damien, with four decades of loyalty to the firm, expressed his dismay upon learning this news. He felt caught off guard by the company’s decision to spontaneously abolish his policy, and replace it with the AdvancedCare Extra Day to Day policy for him and his wife.
His frustration was further ignited when he discovered the announcement through a media press release, without any direct communication from VHI. As an VHI member and thus a shareholder, he felt neglected by the lack of direct notification.
In an attempt to address his concerns, Damien phoned the company’s helpline. The initial representative he spoke to explained that his current coverage would hold until his plan renewal in 2025. However, detailed information regarding the benefits of his new plan would only be provided in February 2025, a month prior to renewal. Dissatisfied with this response, he asked to speak to a manager.
Damien narrates that he was hesitantly transferred to a more senior staff member who reiterated the prior assurances. Upon emphasising his right to have been directly informed of the policy change, he was assured that the benefits of his new plan were equivalent to his present one. However, the manager was unable to provide a pricing estimate for his new coverage due to the uncertainty of cost projections for 2025.
The reader, Damien, was left dissatisfied with a situation regarding his plan migration and its associated costs. His existing plan already existed in the market, and he asked for its current cost. An employee reluctantly revealed that it was priced yearly at €7,085 for a couple. Damien queried the higher cost of €284 if he switched to this new policy and why this was, considering it offered the same benefits as his existing one. The employee struggled to answer but arranged to send him the benefits table of the new plan. Frustrated by these developments, he sought a discussion with senior management.
Damien’s attempts to address his concerns had already required two 30-minute calls, after which he did indeed receive the promised benefits chart. The next day, a call from a manager confirmed that she understood his discontent about transition to the higher-priced policy. He questioned the timing of this policy change and whether it had been established prior to his policy renewal on March 1st.
The manager confirmed it was, offering to extend his ‘cooling off’ period until April 26th to give him the option to cancel without penalties. However, she did not provide a specific timeline of when the migration decision was initially made. Mere minor changes were noted by Damien when comparing the new and existing benefits tables, yet the new plan was set to incur higher costs, a concern she did not address.
Over the recent year, Damien’s current plan had seen a 31% price increase, with further the new plan likely inducing an additional 4% hike. Provided no further increases occur before his next renewal in March, his cover cost for the same benefits will have inflated by 35% in total.
A question has been raised about the justification behind VHI’s inflated rates during a particular period, notably marked by a 4% inflation rate. There wasn’t an adequate response provided by the representative of VHI when queried. Certain business moves by the VHI, such as their extensive funding towards establishing state-of-art 360 Clinical Diagnostic Centres, predominantly serving urban dwellers, were left unexplained.
The concerns from Damien regarding VHI’s decisions were addressed to a certain extent by a female representative of the company. Regarding the dissemination of information about the recent changes, she indicated that communication is sent directly to the affected members. These correspondences offer an outline of changes and suggest alternative plan options a full month ahead of the members’ renewal date. No formal news announcement to media was made about the changes.
The spokeswoman disclosed that HealthPlus Extra costs €3,400 while AdvancedCare Extra costs €3,542; with Health Plus Access Today and AdvancedCare day-to-day priced at €2,573 and €2,563 respectively. She acknowledged potential concerns from members about the changes to their plans and ensured that members will receive prior notification of any alterations. In addition to guaranteeing aid and guidance, the company will proactively contact members nearing their policy renewal in 2025 to discuss available options.