Last year was a tough year for consumers who were dealt a series of blows in the form of costly increases to their private health cover. Since October 2024, insurers VHI, Irish Life Health and Laya each applied three separate hikes.
This year does not look much better, and Dermot Goode, health insurance expert with healthinsuranceireland.ie warns that “the pressure is not going to ease anytime soon for consumers”.
Dermot explains that the increased activity in private hospitals is one of the reasons why prices have risen. “The claims from the private hospitals are still soaring, both in terms of the volume of claims coming through and also the cost.
“It just looks like, for the moment, all the insurance companies are basically struggling to get a full handle on the cost of private hospital claims.”
With consumers across the country reviewing their policies this month, Dermot breaks down the latest wave of price hikes among the insurance providers.
Irish Life Health
“Irish Life Health have announced an increase of an average of 5% across most of their plans from 1 January. Consumers need to be very careful with that ‘average’ figure, because some of the plans will be going up by much more. For example, members on the 4D Health Schemes will not be happy, because those plans are going up by about 11%.
“Depending on the plan they’re on, some people could have a very sizeable increase coming their way,” says Dermot. The increase from 1 January follows previous increases of 3% in October and 2% in April.
However, it is not all bad news for Irish Life Health members. “A lot of customers have a renewal date with Irish Life Health on 31 December. If you’re lucky enough to have a 31 December renewal, it means you won’t be worrying about this latest increase until basically next December.
“One other little bit of good news for some Irish Life Health members is that not all their plans are going up. If you’re on one of the HealthGuide plans or HealthAction plans or Horizon Schemes, then it looks like they are not increasing the cost of those plans from 1 January 2026.
“It does mean that, if you like Irish Life Health, and your preference is to stay with them but you can’t afford the renewal cost of your current plan, they may very well have other options that tick the boxes for you and save you money as well.”
Health insurance expert with healthinsurance.ie, Dermot Goode. \Barry Cronin
VHI
Both VHI and Laya already went up on 1 October, and some of their other plans will increase from 1 January too.
“VHI increased the cost of three plans on 1 December, and they’re now going to increase the cost of another 14 plans on 1 January. Most of the increases are around 8-10%.
“It does mean that some of the customers on those plans, who may have escaped because it wasn’t included in the October announcment, unfortunately, have an increase now coming their way.”
Laya
Laya is doing something very similar to VHI in the New Year. “Laya are increasing the cost of 12 of their corporate plans from 1 January by up to 10% as well.” Many of the plans increasing from 1 January were not included in the previous round of price hikes.
Shop around
Against the backdrop of relentless hikes, consumers will have to shop around. Dermot’s advice is not to auto-renew your cover. “It’s risky, because you could think by auto-renewing the same plan, ‘well I’ve got the same plan, same benefits.’
“What people don’t realise, particularly those on the older corporate plans, is that, in some cases, if you’re on the same plan for three years or more, the likelihood is there’s another corporate plan that you’re not even aware of that gives you the exact same cover under a different plan name and at a significantly lower cost. But if you don’t engage with the insurance company, you’re not going to find out what that is.
“So, if you renewed one of those plans without shopping around, you can actually find yourself paying 10% more for less cover.
“I advise every customer now to make one phone call to your existing insurance company. Challenge them to check all of their plans to see: do they have something similar that is less expensive? And don’t be afraid to tell them what your budget is. A lot of people don’t tell them that.”
When asked whether price increases are translating into people stepping away from health insurance altogether, Dermot says that this is not the case with older consumers; but, it is true that fewer younger members are signing up.
“They’re putting the decision on hold a little bit, because they are reading about all these increases, and wondering: is there any point joining this if it’s going to go up 20% every year? What’s the point?
“But what they don’t realise is that the insurance companies know that affordability is the single biggest issue in the market right now, particularly for younger members. They’re all bringing out lower cost plans.
“Laya has an Access Health Scheme at €1,040 and Level Health have a new Plan B 300 Scheme at €1,027. VHI also have their Enhanced Care 350 scheme at €1,187 and Irish Life Health have their MyPlan 350 at €1,145.
Even with lower cost plans coming on stream, Dermot says: “I’ve no doubt, though, that when people keep hearing about these increases, many of them now may start to question, will I bother joining? Or will I keep my cover in place? That’s an inevitable consequence of a market that’s just full of nothing but rate increases right now.
“The trend is that, in terms of the level of increases for health insurance companies, we can expect more of the same for 2026.”
Dermot Goode is the founder of healthinsuranceireland.ie
Last year was a tough year for consumers who were dealt a series of blows in the form of costly increases to their private health cover. Since October 2024, insurers VHI, Irish Life Health and Laya each applied three separate hikes.
This year does not look much better, and Dermot Goode, health insurance expert with healthinsuranceireland.ie warns that “the pressure is not going to ease anytime soon for consumers”.
Dermot explains that the increased activity in private hospitals is one of the reasons why prices have risen. “The claims from the private hospitals are still soaring, both in terms of the volume of claims coming through and also the cost.
“It just looks like, for the moment, all the insurance companies are basically struggling to get a full handle on the cost of private hospital claims.”
With consumers across the country reviewing their policies this month, Dermot breaks down the latest wave of price hikes among the insurance providers.
Irish Life Health
“Irish Life Health have announced an increase of an average of 5% across most of their plans from 1 January. Consumers need to be very careful with that ‘average’ figure, because some of the plans will be going up by much more. For example, members on the 4D Health Schemes will not be happy, because those plans are going up by about 11%.
“Depending on the plan they’re on, some people could have a very sizeable increase coming their way,” says Dermot. The increase from 1 January follows previous increases of 3% in October and 2% in April.
However, it is not all bad news for Irish Life Health members. “A lot of customers have a renewal date with Irish Life Health on 31 December. If you’re lucky enough to have a 31 December renewal, it means you won’t be worrying about this latest increase until basically next December.
“One other little bit of good news for some Irish Life Health members is that not all their plans are going up. If you’re on one of the HealthGuide plans or HealthAction plans or Horizon Schemes, then it looks like they are not increasing the cost of those plans from 1 January 2026.
“It does mean that, if you like Irish Life Health, and your preference is to stay with them but you can’t afford the renewal cost of your current plan, they may very well have other options that tick the boxes for you and save you money as well.”
Health insurance expert with healthinsurance.ie, Dermot Goode. \Barry Cronin
VHI
Both VHI and Laya already went up on 1 October, and some of their other plans will increase from 1 January too.
“VHI increased the cost of three plans on 1 December, and they’re now going to increase the cost of another 14 plans on 1 January. Most of the increases are around 8-10%.
“It does mean that some of the customers on those plans, who may have escaped because it wasn’t included in the October announcment, unfortunately, have an increase now coming their way.”
Laya
Laya is doing something very similar to VHI in the New Year. “Laya are increasing the cost of 12 of their corporate plans from 1 January by up to 10% as well.” Many of the plans increasing from 1 January were not included in the previous round of price hikes.
Shop around
Against the backdrop of relentless hikes, consumers will have to shop around. Dermot’s advice is not to auto-renew your cover. “It’s risky, because you could think by auto-renewing the same plan, ‘well I’ve got the same plan, same benefits.’
“What people don’t realise, particularly those on the older corporate plans, is that, in some cases, if you’re on the same plan for three years or more, the likelihood is there’s another corporate plan that you’re not even aware of that gives you the exact same cover under a different plan name and at a significantly lower cost. But if you don’t engage with the insurance company, you’re not going to find out what that is.
“So, if you renewed one of those plans without shopping around, you can actually find yourself paying 10% more for less cover.
“I advise every customer now to make one phone call to your existing insurance company. Challenge them to check all of their plans to see: do they have something similar that is less expensive? And don’t be afraid to tell them what your budget is. A lot of people don’t tell them that.”
When asked whether price increases are translating into people stepping away from health insurance altogether, Dermot says that this is not the case with older consumers; but, it is true that fewer younger members are signing up.
“They’re putting the decision on hold a little bit, because they are reading about all these increases, and wondering: is there any point joining this if it’s going to go up 20% every year? What’s the point?
“But what they don’t realise is that the insurance companies know that affordability is the single biggest issue in the market right now, particularly for younger members. They’re all bringing out lower cost plans.
“Laya has an Access Health Scheme at €1,040 and Level Health have a new Plan B 300 Scheme at €1,027. VHI also have their Enhanced Care 350 scheme at €1,187 and Irish Life Health have their MyPlan 350 at €1,145.
Even with lower cost plans coming on stream, Dermot says: “I’ve no doubt, though, that when people keep hearing about these increases, many of them now may start to question, will I bother joining? Or will I keep my cover in place? That’s an inevitable consequence of a market that’s just full of nothing but rate increases right now.
“The trend is that, in terms of the level of increases for health insurance companies, we can expect more of the same for 2026.”
Dermot Goode is the founder of healthinsuranceireland.ie
SHARING OPTIONS