Older people paying €1k more for health insurance than younger policy holders
At least two in every five policy holders are on dated and hugely overpriced plans, with vast majority of over-payers being over 60 years of age.
Totalhealthcover.ie believes fear of change and misguided loyalty is costing many Irish people a fortune.
"When it comes to health insurance, people should review their plan every year just as they would home or car insurance. But they don’t. And this can be a costly mistake. But nobody feels the impact of this mistake hardest on their pocket than Ireland’s older generation," says Dermot Goode, Ireland’s leading health insurance consultant.
"Many are on dated plans that have been on the market 10-25 years, which means they are very expensive. And to compound the negative financial impact - most of these older members are on fixed incomes and simply don’t have the financial capacity to absorb these huge costs.
"While health insurance is community rated in theory, where everyone pays the same, the reality is that older people typically pay €2,000 - €2,500 each or double what their younger counterparts pay simply because they don’t review their cover properly”.
