Aviva will release Health Plan 09 (€2,413.30 per adult, €924.40 for child 1-3, €96 for child 4 and €904.40 for student 1-3 and €280 for student 4) on 22 April 2013.

This product provides cover for a private room in public hospitals, a private room in private hospitals, a semi private room in the  Beacon and Mater Private hospitals and full cover in the Blackrock Clinic.

There is a maternity accommodation grant of €3,450 for private hospitals. There are also significant outpatient benefits with no excess, such as €40 x 8 visits to a GP, dentist, physiotherapist or alternative practitioner.

This plan is available to all new and renewing customers from 22 April 2013.

This appears to be a move to rival the likes of Vhi’s Company Plan Executive and Company Plan Executive Excess, GloHealth’s Ultimate Plan and Laya Healthcare’s Company Care Gold. While these plans are at the top end of the market now and don’t house a huge amount of the general populace they are the plans of choice for many of the company’s Executive Healthcare arrangements.

Therefore, as a company your decision to buy health insurance with one provider versus another may be influenced by how the company perceives which insurer is best looking after the decision makers! Not competing in this area would seem like folly, however the birth of Health Plan 09 will squarely deal with this issue.

Patrick Brennan

Irish Health Insurance