Health insurance companies in Ireland have been piling up the price hikes in recent years with as many as four different increases rolled out by some companies in the last 12 months or so.
All the providers sing from the same hymn sheet and highlight sustained increases in the cost of delivering healthcare and the increased use of more expensive, high-cost drugs, among other things, as reasons for the hikes.
Who are we to doubt the bona fides of such claims, and it certainly seems likely that many medical advances are certainly expensive, with a report commissioned by Insurance Ireland – an umbrella group that represents the best interests of the broader insurance sector as a whole - suggesting that the cost of private claims has risen by more than one-third since the pandemic.
But while the costs the companies face might well be higher, the manner in which they are asking consumers to stump up is by any measure confusing, with the increases coming in small increments that sometimes hide a bigger – and far more unpleasant – picture.
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Unlike electricity, gas, food or mortgage increases, price increases announced by health insurers do not kick in for everyone as soon as or shortly after they are announced. That is because when a person takes out a policy, the price is locked in for 12 months.
While that is a good thing as people avoid immediate increases, it can see them hit harder than they might think when renewal time comes.
Companies tend to make headlines when they announce price increases but the headlines don’t always tell the full story and if a company rolls out three hikes of 4 per cent between February 1st and December 1st and a person’s contract is up for renewal in January, they might find their premium climbing by 12 per cent with all the hikes kicking in simultaneously.
But rolling out multiple increases is not the only way the real impact of price hikes can be hidden from a consumer until their renewal date comes.
The averages announced by the companies are just that – averages - and they don’t always reflect how much some people might end up paying unless they are proactive about switching.
According to Dermot Goode, a health insurance expert with healthinsuranceireland.ie, all insurers have increased their rates over the last 12 months across nearly all their plans, with some increases amounting to 27 per cent.
He warns that people could find themselves paying far more for less cover if they don’t act before their renewal date.
He stresses that people “can’t rely on the average figures quoted as the increase impacting their plan could be significantly higher, especially if they’re on an expensive dated plan”.
And he points out that “as well as ignoring the average figure quoted, they need to factor in the cumulative impact of all increases since their last renewal and not just the most recent rate hike”.
Bearing that in mind, we asked Goode to crunch some of the numbers to paint a clearer picture of the impact the price increases are having across the three main providers.
VHI Healthcare
VHI Healthcare is the largest provider in the State and it increased its prices in March 2025 and October 2025 by what it said was an average of 3 per cent each time. The company’s most recent price increase, announced in January, kicks in next month and also averages 3 per cent.
Goode assessed a sample of the provider’s plans and he says “they are all close to the average in terms of percentage increase since October. Most were around 3.4 per cent, one was 4.1 per cent and the lowest was 1.8 per cent.”
He says that for the sample plans he looked at “the cumulative increase from March 2025 to March 2026 is tracking their average or close to it, so the company’s Premium Care policy will be 8 per cent higher for anyone renewing from next month, while its AdvancedCare Extra Day to Day is going to be 7 per cent higher, as will its One Plus Plan”.
At the lower end of the scale is VHI’s EnhancedCare 350 which is, Goode says, coming in at 3 per cent in total over the 12-month period.
Things are not so even when it comes to the other providers.
Irish Life Health
Irish Life Health increased its prices by an average of 5 per cent on January 1st last year and by 3 per cent in October, with a further 5 per cent average increase kicking in last month.
“However, some plans exceeded this latest average increase,” Goode says. He points to 4D Health 1, 4D Health 4 and Business Plan Select which have all increased by around 11 per cent since last October, and between January 2025 and January 2026, these same plans increased by around 18 per cent.
“Some of their most popular schemes such as Benefit Access 300 or Health Guide 2 (HG2) didn’t increase at all between October 2025 and January 2026,” Goode says, and since the start of last year those plans have increased by 5.4 per cent, which is below the cumulative average figure for this insurer.
Laya Healthcare
And finally there is Laya Healthcare.
It announced a price increase averaging 6.6 per cent which kicked in at the start of April last year, while a 4.5 per cent average increase was imposed last October.
It has yet to be confirmed but Goode is anticipating another rate increase from the start of this coming April.
“Many of their older schemes have been hit by significant increases well over this average,” Goode says.
As we have said the average increase in October was 4.5 per cent, but the CompanyCare Plus policy increased by €467, or 11.3 per cent; the Momentum plan climbed in price by €273, or 9.3 per cent, while the Simply Connect Plus increased by €279, or 11.4 per cent.
“When you look at the cumulative increase across the same three plans from October 2024 to October 2025, the total increase is between 24 per cent and 27 per cent,” he says.
By contrast some popular corporate plans such as Inspire and Inspire Plus didn’t increase at all in October, while some “popular mid-level plans such as Signify actually came down slightly in price since October”, Goode continues.
He also points out that Laya is the only insurer offering free cover on certain plans for the second and subsequent child under 18.
What should you do now?
The bottom line is it pays to pay more attention to what is happening to your individual policy and less attention to the headline-grabbing figures that the companies release.
And it also pays to shop around.
If your renewal date is approaching call your existing provider to see if they have a lower-cost equivalent plan to the one you are currently on and make it clear you are willing to take on some excesses or minor reductions in cover, depending on the savings, if that makes sense for you.
The reason you start with your current provider is because they already have a record of all previous claims you have made and the simplest question to ask is if any new and cheaper plans would have covered all the claims that have been paid out over the last two years and to the same level. If the answer is yes, then your choice is pretty simple. You switch.
Once armed with that knowledge you can then ring around the other providers to see if they have better value. It is better to do it over the phone. By talking to a company representative and asking the right questions, and insisting on having everything explained to you, it puts the onus on them to make everything clear. Do not be afraid to ask questions and make sure everything is clear in your mind before making any final decision.
You can contact us at [email protected] with personal finance questions you would like to see us address. If you missed last week’s newsletter by Joanne Hunt on how much money you should gift at a wedding, you can read it here.
