Laya is the second largest health insurance provider in Ireland. Laya entered the Irish market in 1997 and has recently been acquired by AXA Insurance.
Laya offers health insurance, travel insurance, and life insurance and has close to 700,000 members or 27.6% of the Irish market.
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Laya company bio
Laya (then BUPA Ireland) entered the Irish health insurance market in 1997 when EU regulations meant the Irish health insurance market was opened up to health insurers other than VHI, the state health insurer who had been the only provider since the 1950’s.
Legislation in the mid 1990’s required health insurers to apply open enrolment, community rating, and lifetime cover. The Health Insurance Authority (HIA) was also set up to oversee the Irish health insurance market.
In the late 1970’s, only 20 to 30% of the Irish population had health insurance, which was provided by VHI. This began to rise during the 1980’s and 1990’s to 35% of the population in 1987 and is close to 50% today, with three health insurers including Laya providing health insurance.
Laya member benefits
Laya provides Laya Health and Wellbeing Clinics for their members with rapid access to consultant-led care for minor illnesses and injuries. Laya provides from €75 to €375 per clinic visit, depending on the details of your Laya plan. Clinics are in Dublin, Cork, Galway, and Limerick.
Laya also provides out of hours support with a 24/7 GP line, a 24/7 Nurse line, and 24/7 Mental Wellbeing Support Programme.
Laya provides Heartbeat cardiac screening, with members entitled to cardiac screening every 2 years on most plans.
Healthcare Concierge provides health and medical information and can explain medical terms or information about your diagnosis to you.
Laya also provides GP live which offers a video GP consultation to their members on most of their plans.
Laya also offers their First Steps fertility package on certain plans which offers support for fertility treatment on a per year basis rather than per lifetime.
Laya Plans
Laya provides numerous health insurance plans, with varying levels of cover and at various price points. Here are some options to consider, as well as some key features of the plans.
Laya also offers ‘kids go free’ on 6 of its policies where if you pay for a child’s health insurance, any other children in the family are free to add to your family policy.
Annual average price of health insurance
The HIA estimates that €1470 is the annual average price for health insurance in Ireland and Laya’s Precision 300 Create (priced here for 2 adults and 2 children) is close to this price. This plan offers semi-private or private care in a private hospital, as well as cover for cardiac procedures in a high-tech hospital.
Laya Assure Protect is a more affordable plan with a relatively low outpatient excess. This plan offers some financial protection for outpatient expenses but no cover for GP visits.
Health Manager Gold is a premium plan with a high level of inpatient and outpatient benefits, but its price reflects this.
Laya Money Smart health cash back scheme
Laya offers a health cash back scheme that is an alternative to inpatient health insurance.
There is no inpatient cover on this scheme but there is cash back for up to 40 days for each day if you are in hospital as a day patient or inpatient.
This scheme does not count as health insurance cover for lifetime community rating loadings but does count as continuous cover in terms of health insurance waiting periods.
There are individual schemes and family schemes at three levels each.
Money Smart 20 offers €20 cash back on a range of health expenses, Money Smart offers €30 cash back, and Money Smart €40 offers €40 cash back (all schemes offer €10 back on prescriptions with different limits).
The following expenses are covered for cash back:
There is a maternity or adoption grant of €200 / €300 / €400, depending on your level of cover.
All schemes offer access to a GP line, nurse line, or Physioline.
All schemes offer access to Laya Heartbeat screening once every 2 years for each member older than 12 years.
Talk to us today!
Our advisers are available to talk to you about your health insurance needs.
If you are considering purchasing a health insurance plan, whether you are a first time health insurance purchaser or you are thinking about upgrading or switching your existing health insurance plan, we can discuss your options with you.
We can find you affordable health insurance that suits you and your circumstances.
