Cork insurance provider Laya Healthcare gives support payment to thousands of customers 

LAYA Healthcare offices at Eastgate, Little Island, Co. Cork.

Laya Healthcare customers are eligible for a refund if they have a live health insurance policy with the provider since June 1.

The Cork based health insurance firm confirmed that they will be giving €85 per adult and €35 per child through this support refund.

“This latest development announced by Laya is welcome news for all their members. It follows on from similar initiatives by both Irish Life Health and VHI who announced rebates in April and May of this year,” said health insurance consultant with Totalhealthcover.ie Dermot Goode.

The refund, which was first reported by the Irish Independent, will go to thousands of Laya Healthcare customers.

“Families throughout the country are really struggling with the soaring cost of living and these rebates or member supports will come as a welcome input into household budgets,” added Mr Goode.

He continued by highlighting the impact this will have on the pocket of a family as if two adults and two children have policies with the provider, they could be in line for €240 through this rebate.

“Laya have structured this payment in such a way that no action is required by the member and this will be issued automatically through July and August,” said Mr Goode.

He explained that these rebates are made possible by the fact that the insurers appear to be incurring lower than expected claims particularly from the public hospital sector.

“We are hopeful that this downward pressure on health insurance costs will mean little or no premium increases for the rest of 2022,” he said.

This is the second support payment Laya has given its customers since the onset of the pandemic.

At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Laya refunded its customers while private hospitals and clinics were closed due to Covid-19 measures.

These refunds came to €195 for every adult member and €60 for every child member.

“On a cautionary note, these are once off payments and consumers still need to be reviewing their cover at each renewal to make sure they’re on the most up to date version of their plan,” said Mr Goode.

“A rebate of €85 is good news but if you’re still insured on a dated plan, your savings could be five to 10 times this figure,” he said.

With approximately 600,000 members, Laya is the second-biggest health insurer in the Irish market.