A wider range of health plans means better value, but choosing can be hard, writes Laura Slattery.

Health-conscious consumers now have a greater range of healthcare plans to choose from, following the launch of a new insurance company, Vivas.

The enhanced competition could trigger a price war and result in healthy savings for individuals and families.

But the entry of a third insurer also makes it even more confusing for consumers to work out which health plan offers them the best cover at the best price.

Vivas claimed last week that consumers who opt for its plans can save between 8 per cent and 49 per cent on their health insurance.

But both VHI and BUPA have refuted these claims, arguing that Vivas has not compared like with like.

The table opposite shows the prices individuals and families can expect to pay for some of the main products available.

But as the examples below explain, the cover included in each plan differs, at times dramatically.

Example 1: Young and single

Jane is aged 24, has no children and has had no major health problems to date. She is looking for basic hospital cover at an affordable price.

Jane decides to opt for the most popular type of hospital insurance: full cover for a private room in public hospitals and a semi-private room in private hospitals.

VHI's Plan B, Plan B Option and its new First Plan Plus provides such cover, as does BUPA Essential Plus and Level 2 of the Vivas Me plan, which is aimed at young, single individuals.

With an annual premium of €450.73, BUPA's Essential Plus is cheaper than both Plan B (€484.03) and Plan B Option (€527.15). So before last week there was a clear case for choosing BUPA.

But Jane now has almost 50 new healthcare plans to consider, including the Vivas Me Plan Level 2.

This plan is substantially cheaper than Essential Plus, costing only €390.60 a year.

But are the benefits it offers as good as BUPA's? Both plans offer similar cover for the two private hospitals that are often excluded from the most basic plans - the Mater Private and the Blackrock Clinic.

Cover for emergency medical expenses incurred overseas is available up to the same limit - €55,000 - although Vivas throws in up to €1,000 toward the expenses of a travelling companion.

BUPA has the edge in terms of convalescence cover, offering €51 per day for 14 days.

This is almost twice as good as the cover on the Vivas Me plan, which has a maximum benefit of €26 per day.

All in all, the Vivas plan looks like the best value.

However, both BUPA Essential Plus and VHI's Plan B/Plan B Option offer superior maternity benefits, giving full cover for up to three days' private accommodation in a public hospital or an allowance of €1,350 if you choose a private hospital or home birth.

The Me plan includes only basic maternity cover as it is "designed for a lifestyle without the responsibilities of parenthood," according to Vivas.

So if Jane opts for the Me plan she will have to remember to upgrade to its family-orientated We plan before she has a baby.

In fact, Vivas, in common with all insurers, imposes a 52-week waiting period before members can make a maternity claim, so if Jane wants to have private maternity cover she will have to change from Me to We at least a year before she has a baby.

The same principle applies to VHI's First Plan and First Plan Plus, which offer only minimal maternity cover.

If Jane has an unplanned pregnancy when she is on either the VHI First or Vivas Me plans, her stay in hospital after giving birth may not be as comfortable as she would like.

Example 2: Young family

Michael and Angela are in their mid-30s and in good health. They have one child and are looking for a plan with good maternity benefits in case they have a second child. They also want cover for day-to-day medical expenses.

Michael and Angela have a child, so the Vivas Me or I will not be suitable, as they have no child rates.

So if the couple decide that they can trust a new company with their health insurance, they will be directed onto their We plans, which offer five levels of cover.

At €1,053, the Vivas We plan Level 2 is only marginally cheaper for the family than BUPA's Essential Plus, which costs €1,062.37.

According to BUPA, consumers would need to purchase the Vivas day-to-day option on top of their We plan in order to receive comparable levels of out-patient benefits to Essential Plus.

This is because Vivas does not include GP visits under its out-patient benefits.

But if Michael and Angela want to claim for out-patient benefits under Essential Plus (or VHI's Plan B Option), they will have to pay a €220 excess first.

This means they will have to rack up more than 11 visits to a GP before it will make sense to claim the €20 per visit benefit available under Essential Plus.

If they want day-to-day cover they should opt for BUPA's Health Manager products, which combine hospital cover and a 50 per cent refund on everyday medical costs with no excess and no limits on the maximum number of visits to most practitioners.

There are two other combination-type products that might suit the family: VHI's Family Plan Plus or the Vivas We plan Level 2 plus its day-to-day option added on.

Both of these products offer full refunds on medical expenses such as visits to GPs, dentists, physiotherapists and alternative medicine practitioners up to certain limits.

Rejecting claims by Vivas that they are cheaper, VHI has pointed out that its new Life Stages plans (First, First Plus, Family, Family Plus and Forward) allow for more visits.

For example, each person can visit a GP up to 25 times per annum, compared to just three times under most of the Vivas day-to-day options.

But Vivas gives a benefit of €30 per visit, while VHI only gives €20, so Vivas could prove more advantageous for a typical adult, who will only visit their GP an average of 3.4 times a year anyway.

At €210.60, the rate Vivas charges for the first child in the family is higher than its competitors.

But it does drop its rates for the second and third child.

If Michael and Angela are planning on having a large family, they may also be interested to know that at Vivas, the fourth and subsequent children are insured for free.

Example 3: Older family

John and Ruth, over 50, have two children, 20 and 22, both full-time students. As they are getting more concerned about their health, John and Ruth are looking for a higher than average level of cover.

The arrival of Vivas should make healthcare more affordable for this family.

This is because Vivas will cover full-time dependent students up to the age of 23 under their child rates.

At BUPA, full-time students must be 21 or under to qualify for child rates.

The same age limit applies at VHI, which has a separate student rate and thus works out as even more expensive for families with students.

John and Ruth would like full cover for a private room in a private hospital, so a minimum of Level 3 on the Vivas We plan will be appropriate.

Cover under the We plan, if they also pay for day-to-day cover, will broadly correlate to VHI's Forward Plan and BUPA's Health Manager.

Here, Forward Plan seems like the worst value, especially as its private hospital cover totally excludes the Blackrock Clinic and the Mater Private.

Even if John and Ruth's children eventually leave full-time education and pay for their own health insurance, BUPA's Health Manager product looks like being the best value for the couple, with the Vivas I plans coming in second.