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Health insurance for your children: why waste the money?

Many parents are paying in case their child has an accident unaware that they could have cover already through their school

Insurance you already pay through your child's school, at very reasonable rates, most likely covers them against physical injury, all year round and even outside of school. Photograph; iStock

Dominic Coyle's face
Dominic Coyle
Fri Oct 6 2023 - 12:04

Hi again, and welcome to this week’s personal finance newsletter. Over one in five children in Ireland has private health insurance, according to figures from 2022 from the Health Insurance Authority. But do they need it?

In a world where close to half the population has private health insurance, it is not surprising to see so many youngsters with private cover, even where there is no such thing as dedicated private children’s hospitals.

And the insurers are understandably quick to market the advantages of having children covered.

But health insurance for children can prove costly.

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The most affordable plans for children range from €140 for VHI’s Public Plus, to €194 at Irish Life for its First Cover plan.

These are plans that offer basic care. For adults on one of the most popular plans at any of Ireland’s three insurers, the price could tick up substantially.

You can expect to pay €271.50 a year for a child on VHI’s One Plus plan, €319.80 on the Inspire Plus at Laya Healthcare which has recently been acquired by Axa and €532.20 on the Irish Life’s 4D Health 2 plan.

These are just sample examples drawn from the five most popular plans at each insurer, as determined by the Health Insurance Authority, but they give some sense of the price you can face.

With most insurers raising prices twice this year, many parents are looking closely at their budgets. And for families of school-going children especially, there may be a much cheaper alternative.

Among the costs hard-pressed parents face as they get their child ready for each new school year is an insurance premium. Accidents happen and the schools need to ensure they are covered against the medical outcome of the inevitable bumps and scrapes as children career into each other in playgrounds and on playing field.

But, depending on your school, that premium could cover much more.

School pupil accident cover

In general, insurers offer two coverage options – cover for school activities and 24-hour cover. The first, naturally, is cheaper but there is very little in it and the cost is, in any case, just a fraction of the cost of private health insurance.

Allianz is one of the big providers, claiming on its site to cover 90 per cent of Ireland’s primary schools and half of all secondary schools. I chose them as an example for no better reason than that they actually publish their premium information in easy to access format on their website, unlike some other providers.

So how much does it cost?

At primary level, if the school is covering only school-based activities, the premium is just €5 per pupil per year. If they are going for the 24/7 option, it is €8. Paying online, which almost all schools would do these days, reduces those figures further to €4 and €6.40 respectively.

With just €2.40-€3 difference, it seems a no-brainer to insure 24/7, covering you against injury either in school, after school hours or even during school holidays.

In my experience, most schools opt for the 24/7 cover but parents often do not realise the level of cover they have and are effectively paying twice over to protect their children.

The prices at secondary school are slightly higher – €9 per annum for school activity only cover (€7.20 if paid online) and €12 per pupil for 24/7 cover, or €9.60 online.

Those quoted figures are for compulsory cover where the school (and ultimately the parents) pay for every child. Insurers also offer an opt-in option where the premiums are slightly higher to cover the extra administrations in ploughing through the acceptances of each individual parent.

Strange but true

Sounds too good to be true? It seems so at least if a very unscientific straw poll I conducted is anything to go by. Most parents I spoke to were absolutely unaware their children might be covered out of school hours, with many frankly refusing to accept it was possible. But it is, and parents would be well advised to check with their children’s school to confirm which insurance policy is in place and what it covers.

In general, policies will cover medical expenses for accidents that are not otherwise recoverable of up to €50,000. Clearly, if you have private health cover, the “not otherwise recoverable” would require you first to check what it will cover… but there is no need to have private health insurance to qualify.

The same cover is generally available for dental treatment, including emergency dental treatment. There are also figures for more significant injury, such as a loss of sight, hearing, speech, a limb or even death ranging from €10,000 to €100,000.

And it does not just cover accidents at home but also worldwide.

Not everything is covered and you do need to read the small print as with any insurance contract. Horse riding generally is okay, but not horse racing or jumping unless it is a school activity – say, in transition year. Similarly, martial arts, boxing or other formal fighting sports are generally excluded, unless organised through the school.

And if you are playing sport with a recognised club or association, the medical and dental cover falls to just €5,000, presumably on the basis that the club or association should have its own insurance cover in place for participants.

More importantly, the cover is intended to address physical injury; more general sickness or disease will be excluded.

As a result, for some children, it may still make sense to have private cover. But certainly one of the compelling reasons for private health cover no longer applies. Hospital charges for emergency care or per diem charges for in patient care are no longer an issue, having been disposed of in last year’s budget.

If you’re looking nervously at those private health insurance bills – or even if you don’t have private cover and simply worry about the financial impact of the inevitable childhood accidents – it gives food for thought. Not least the notion that you might have had cover all these years and not been aware of it.

You can contact us at OnTheMoney@irishtimes.com with personal finance questions you would like to see us address. If you missed last week’s newsletter, you can read it here.