Lotsa details but bear with me! So, you pay about €10 a month which covers you and your family (or just spouse if no kids) The plan is only available in Ireland and the UK. You get access to a number of free specialist phonelines such as a 24/7 doctor phoneline, a legal phoneline, a medical info phoneline and a stress phoneline. You also get: http://www.hsf.eu.com/files/HSF-ROI-Direct-Schemes...
€80 per year for dental or optical
€130 per year for a practitioner such as physio, chiro, acupuncture etc etc.
€260 per yeear for specialists/investigations inc. allergy testing and health screeening
€125 per year for birth or adoption
€20 per night for hospital stays
€50 - €75 per year for "recouperation"
€20 per day for "day case surgery and treatments"
€95 per year for applicances and hearing aids
€5000 lump sum for permanent disability
€2500 lump sum for accidental death
These are all one off payments if you see what I mean, it's not as though you can make two or more claims in any one year for say dental, it's a maximum of, in the case of dental, €80. We think it's a pretty good deal, if we never avail of anything or never even make a claim (and we probably would make claims) we still think that even for the 24/7 doctor line, legal advice line etc it's pretty handy. Ever hear of these people or is there something like this for such a low price where you live? http://www.hsf.eu.com/ Thanks.
Update:Yeah, if you've a med card (as we do) or private health insurance some things *may* be slightly irrelevant but if your a public patient and say need something done quicker and pay for it then it could be worth your while to have this. I don't think premiums rise if you claim, as far as I know. Didin't relsise there were free 24/7 doctor lines etc in Ireland. The legal line is also interesting though. I know one union - public sector I think - was giving info on this health plan to its members as a "top up" on top of any private insurance they had. Tbh, for about €120 a year we think it's not too bad.
We're also thinking, just thinking, of getting life insurance, think cover of about €100,000 is under €20 a month, maybe bout €15. Could be needed if I kick it, lol.
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I've never heard of them. I'd be wary of them without being able to read the small print. Are those allowances per person or per policy? Do you have to pay excess? If you make a claim will your premium go up the next year? Some of the payments are a bit irrelevant anyway if you are going through the public health system, ie ALL maternity care is free, hospital stays and surgeries are free. As a public patient, a referral from your doctor will get you all the other services, barring perhaps the 'recuperation' and 'appliances and hearing aids'. Most areas have a 24/7 emergency phone line (eg Caredoc or Shannondoc) that you can phone for free, and the HSE operates an information and advice phoneline.
The dental care equates to one visit per year, nice to get that free, and the lump sums in case of death or permanent disability are decent enough. To be honest though, so much of that stuff is available under the public system anyway, I don't know if I'd bother paying extra for it. I'd prefer to keep my money and put it into a life insurance policy or pension plan instead.