Vhi is to reduce the cost of its premiums and also announced another waiver of premiums due to the continued reduction in customer claims in 2021 as a result of Covid.
This is the third time that Vhi has returned money to customers since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic after access to healthcare services were limited over its duration and the knock on effect this had on claims.
The premium waiver will vary according to the health insurance plan that a customer has in place.
But it will range from a minimum of €75 per adult and €25 per child for those on public hospital only plans up to a maximum of €300 per adult and €100 per child for those on the plans with the highest level of cover.
All customers who have a health insurance policy with Vhi on May 1 will be eligible for the premium waiver.
The company said it will write shortly to all its customers with details of the premium waiver.
It said it will transfer the relevant amounts to policyholders directly into their bank accounts where it has the details or alternatively customers will be sent a cheque as necessary.
Vhi will have returned €450m to customers since the start of the pandemic as it honours a promise it made to its customers that if claims were lower than anticipated due to Covid, Vhi would return additional value to its customers.
Vhi also announced today that it is reducing its prices by an average of 3% across its plans from May 1 this year.
"This is attributable to the fact that even at this early stage of the year, it is expected that claims will be lower than pre-pandemic levels," the company said.
"While claims from the private hospital sector are beginning to show signs of normalising, it is expected that claims from public hospitals will take longer to recover. The one off Covid related reduction in the Health Insurance Levy has also been factored into the reduction," it added.
Declan Moran, Vhi's chief executive, said the Covid-19 pandemic utterly changed how healthcare was delivered and accessed over the past two years.
"Public health was, correctly, prioritised and the healthcare system as a whole played a vital role in supporting the needs of people in Ireland during these difficult times. The impact, however, was that access to both planned and critical care was limited and challenging," Mr Moran said.
"At Vhi we responded rapidly and leveraged digital platforms to transform the delivery of our services through eHealth where possible. This has worked well and there are many changes that will remain permanent features of our offering, however, for many, there is no replacement for a consultant visit or a hospital stay," he said.
"The ability to provide access to our customers to healthcare settings has been severely limited and as a result, claims are down," he added.
