Waiver will range from €75 to €300 per adult and from €25 to €100 per child –depending on the customers health insurance plan

 

Vhi also announces an average 3% reduction in premium prices across its plans

 

28th March 2022 - Vhi today announced that due to the continued reduction in customer claims in 2021 due to Covid, Vhi is waiving a portion of premium, returning money directly back to its customers. This is the third time that Vhi has waived a portion of premium for its customers since the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic resulting from limits in access to healthcare services over the duration and the knock on effect this had on claims. Vhi will have returned €450 million to customers since the start of the pandemic honouring a promise it made to its customers that if claims were lower than anticipated due to Covid, Vhi would return additional value to its customers.

The premium waiver will vary according to the health insurance plan that a customer has in place but will range from a minimum of €75 per adult and €25 per child for those on public hospital only plans up to a maximum of €300 per adult and €100 per child for those on the plans with the highest level of cover.  All customers who have a health insurance policy with Vhi on the 1st May will be eligible for the premium waiver. Customers do not need to contact Vhi.  Vhi will shortly be writing to all customers with details of the premium waiver. To implement the waiver, Vhi will transfer the relevant amounts to policyholders directly into their bank accounts where we have the details or alternatively they will be sent a cheque as necessary.

Vhi also announced today that it is reducing its prices by an average of 3% across its plans from the 1st May 2022. This is attributable to the fact that even at this early stage of the year, it is expected that claims will be lower than pre-pandemic levels. While claims from the private hospital sector are beginning to show signs of normalising, it is expected that claims from public hospitals will take longer to recover. The one off Covid related reduction in the Health Insurance Levy has also been factored into the reduction.

Vhi is the only health insurer that exists solely to meet the healthcare needs of its customers and has a long track record of ensuring that premiums are set accordingly.  Vhi is continuing to deliver value to its customers by reducing prices, by the addition of enhanced and innovative benefits and, in this instance also by waiving its right to collect a portion of the premium.

Commenting on the announcements today, Mr Declan Moran, Chief Executive said:

“As we all know, the Covid-19 pandemic utterly changed how healthcare was delivered and accessed over the past two years. Public health was, correctly, prioritised and the healthcare system as a whole played a vital role in supporting the needs of people in Ireland during these difficult times. The impact, however, was that access to both planned and critical care was limited and challenging. At Vhi we responded rapidly and leveraged digital platforms to transform the delivery of our services through eHealth where possible. This has worked well and there are many changes that will remain permanent features of our offering, however, for many, there is no replacement for a consultant visit or a hospital stay. The ability to provide access to our customers to healthcare settings has been severely limited and as a result, claims are down.”

"In recognition of this fact we are once again waiving a portion of premium for our customer.  Vhi exists solely to meet the healthcare needs of our customers. We are unique in the market in this respect and this third waiver of premium means we will have returned €450m back to our customers.”

Speaking about the future outlook, Declan Moran said: “While we are still only in the first quarter of the year, we can already determine that claims’ levels will not return to pre-pandemic levels this year. The continued pressure on the public hospital system in particular means that customers won’t access as many procedures as in pre-pandemic times. We understand that customers are under increased financial pressure with inflation building and therefore, we are pricing this expected reduction in claims into our pricing with an average 3% drop in premium price across our plans for the year ahead.  We need to balance the anticipated drop in claims with the typical medical inflationary cost pressures which remain and we believe that the 3% reduction will do that.”

 

ENDS

 

Issued by

Brighid Smyth / Sile Murphy 

Vhi Group Services DAC

Phone: 086 8270905 / 086 028 8132

 

Notes to Editor – Waiver

The premium waiver will vary according to the health insurance plan that a customer has and will range from a minimum of € 75 per adult and €25 per child for those on public hospital only plans up to a maximum of €300 per adult and €100 per child for those on the plans with the highest level of cover.

Customers do not need to contact us, we will shortly be writing to all customers with details of the premium waiver. To implement the waiver Vhi will transfer the relevant amounts to policyholders directly into their bank accounts where we have the banking details or alternatively they will be sent a cheque as necessary.

 

 

Vhi_Press

28-Mar-2022