HSE computer hackers boost the value of private cover

Personal finance columnist Jill Kerby looks at the impact of the cyber attack on the HSE's IT systems from the point of view of medical insurance costs...

The attack by cyber-terrorists on the HSE and Dept of Health could have been worse: there could have been a smaller safety net in place to keep vital services running if the voluntary hospitals hadn’t kept some of their computer systems detached from the HSE system and if the private hospitals had been also been linked in any way.

I don’t think anyone needs new reasons to consider private health insurance from the three providers the VHI (which is directly owned by the government but operates independently), Laya HealthCare and Irish Life Health. Where these plans are unaffordable, a healthcare cash plan like HSF.ie should be considered.

The 15-month pandemic has worsened waiting times for diagnostic appointments and clinical and hospital treatments.

Nearly a million people are already waiting for timely pubic hospital medical care and operations, including, as of February, at least 225 children with life changing conditions like scoliosis. There are also now 728 unfilled consultant positions.

This month, the Health Insurance Authority, which regulates the private health insurance market, found that 2.3 million, or 46.4pc of the Irish population now have private health insurance. In the 12 months from April 2020 to March 2021, almost 38,000 additional people took out private health insurance, a 1.6pc increase on the previous 12 months.

Access to private health care means that not only will existing treatment and operations at the 19 private hospitals continue uninterrupted in the period in which the public hospitals are disrupted, but also that out-patient investigations and treatments, like consultants visits, blood tests, x-rays and MRIs, physiotherapy, can also continue.

Private insurance members are also being advised to attend private hospital emergency departments (mostly in cities) where possible for as long as public ones have limited or no access to their hospital IT systems.

The crisis has, however, highlighted how important it is to purchase sufficient insurance cover. The interruption of public hospital services, which could continue for some time, means that customers with lower cost ‘entry-level’ plans with restricted benefits like access to public hospitals only may have no choice but to wait for the system to recover.

These plans, which cost about a third less than a conventional PHI plans that provides access to the private hospital network of semi-private and private accommodation as well as public hospitals, were introduced when the government brought in lifetime community rating in 2015.

This new system meant that anyone who had not become a PHI customer by the age of 34 would have to pay a 2pc annual premium for their plan above that age. For example, a plan that costs, say, €1,200 per year would cost 20pc more – 2pc x 10 years – for a 44-year-old (€1,440) to purchase. A 54-year-old who decided they finally needed to have this PHI plan would end up paying 40pc more – 2pc x 20 years – or €1,680.

Health insurance expert Dermot Goode of TotalHealthCare.ie has warned about the limited benefits of many of the entry level policies and suggests that new customers check the benefits carefully before they buy any plan, and those with existing lower cost entry plans should get them reviewed before renewing them.

The HIA website – hia.ie – includes all c400 plans on the market, and allows you to examine benefits and compare your policy ‘in-house’ and with the other providers.

With a standard full-access (to private hospitals) family health insurance plan easily costing up to €3,000 a year, such a financial outlay may be impossible for many. This is where healthcare cash plans come in. Many employers now offer them in addition to, or instead of, conventional health insurance.

There are only two such providers currently on the market: HSF Health Plan and Laya Healthcare. Their different tax-exempt cash benefit plans come under community rating regulations and so are not age-related and the single premium covers the entire family.

Benefits include a proportion of the cost of GP, physio, consultant visits, outpatient tests and treatments; they pay a cash benefit for every night you stay in hospital or in recuperation. The former is particularly useful since there is a public hospital charge of €80 per night for a maximum 10 nights.

These plans also pay flat cash payments for a maternity event.

Our public health service has been under severe pressure and poor administration for many years. As 2.3 million of us know, having private health insurance is now more than just a way to avoid lengthening waiting lists.

It is now part of a contingency plan for when the worst happens.