Cancelling

In general, health insurance policies are 12 month contracts. All insurers will provide a 14 day cooling-off period from the commencement of the contract, during which time you may cancel and get a full refund. No claims will be paid in respect of these 14 days. 

Current Market Practice

Aviva Health

With effect from the 1 August, Aviva Health will no longer allow mid-term cancellations for new and renewing customers. Where a policyholder cancels their policy prior to the end of the policy year, or does not pay their premium in accordance with the terms of the policy for the full duration of the policy year, Aviva Health will charge a mid-term cancellation fee.  The mid-term cancellation charge will consist of the health insurance levy calculated on a pro-rata basis for each adult, student and child on the policy for the remainder of the policy term, together with an administration fee of €25 per policy.

If you have a policy with Aviva Health which renewed prior to the 1 August, you are still on the old contract terms and you may cancel mid-term as long as you’ve had no inpatient or day-patient claims and a proportion of the premium will be refunded to you.

If you have had inpatient or day-patient claims, you will be charged the full year’s premium.

If you have an outpatient claim, they will allow you to cancel, but they will pay the outpatient claim on a pro-rata basis.

GloHealth

GloHealth policies are for a 12 month period. If you cancel within the first 14 days there is a cooling-off period where they will cancel the contract and give you a full refund. 

Mid-term cancellations will not receive any premium refund and the balance of the year's premium will be due. If there have been no claims, GloHealth may apply a penalty equal to the health insurance levy for breach of contract rather than collecting the remaining premium. This will be at GloHealth's discretion.

However GloHealth will allow you to change your plan mid-term and you may remove or add dependants to your policy mid-term.

Laya healthcare

Laya healthcare contracts are for a period of one year unless they agree to a different period when starting your policy. If you do cancel mid-year, you will not receive any refund on your premium. If you don't pay your premiums, laya healthcare will consider this a breach of contract and will not pay any benefits for the contract term and may seek the remainder of the premium. This new policy was introduced on 18 June 2012 and will apply to all new and renewing customers from this date.

Customers with current policies that renewed prior to 18 June 2012 may cancel their policies mid-term if they've had no inpatient or day patient claims and premiums for the remainder of the term will be refunded.

Vhi Healthcare

Vhi do not allow mid-term cancellations. If you stop paying your premium mid-term and have had no claims, they will charge you a penalty for breach of contract. This is equal to the health insurance levy, per person, on a pro-rata basis, for the remaining period left on the policy plus a €50 administration fee per policy. Payment of this penalty does not affect your rights to take out a policy with another insurer.

If you have had claims in this policy year, Vhi will charge the full year’s premium.