Health & Wellness

We take your health seriously. That’s why we offer a range of benefits to help you deal quickly and easily with any concerns you may have, while helping to catch any health issues before they become too serious.

Employee Assistance Programme

The Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) provides immediate support and advice to anyone who may be experiencing difficulties either at work or at home. The EAP service is free, confidential, impartial and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and available to all HPE team members.

The EAP service offers telephone and video counselling as well as face-to-face counselling when appropriate. It is also available to any immediate family members over the age of 18 years who are residing with HPE team members. Team members with children aged under 18 years can select the 'Children Extra' personalised package via the HPE Private Medical Insurance scheme to avail of a child and teen counselling benefit. Please contact Irish Life Health for further details. 
Charities that provide support to children and teenagers include Childline, Teenline, Barnardos, Pieta House, Spunout, Samaritans, Jigsaw and Bodywhys. There is also family resource centres run by the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) around the country.  

To use the EAP service, call the helpline number on 01 5625150. Click here to find out more.

Did you know?

Employee Assistance Programme

The EAP service is provided through the Irish Life Health "Healthy Minds" programme under your medical insurance policy. All HPE team members can access EAP support by phone at Tel: 01 5625150. HPE team members enrolled in the HPE Private Medical scheme can also access Healthy Minds via their virtual health platform, ‘MyClinic’. The EAP service provides professional counselling, along with expert advice and information on a whole range of issues including:

  • Abuse (physical, mental, sexual) 
  • Addiction (drugs, alcohol etc.) 
  • Anxiety 
  • Bereavement 
  • Bullying and harassment advice 
  • Disorders (mental, eating, drugs) 
  • Domestic (marital, relationship) 
  • Health & safety advice 
  • Health information 
  • Phobia 
  • Self esteem 
  • Stress 
  • Trauma 
  • Financial information

Private Medical Insurance

HPE cares about your health. That’s why our Private Medical Insurance scheme with Irish Life Health offers Private Medical Insurance cover on the Horizon 2 plan, for you, your Spouse/Partner and child dependants up to age 21 years.

The full-time education clause has been removed. No other adult dependants may be covered under the medical scheme (i.e. parents).

Per regulation, if you are over 35 years of age and taking Private Medical Insurance with no previous cover or after a break in cover, you are normally required to make a Lifetime Community Rating (LCR) late entry loading payment directly to the medical insurance provider. This is equivalent to a 2% loading for every year above the age of 34. Please click on the LCR pop up below for important information about this requirement.

Private Medical Scheme

Cover levels

Standard: Horizon 2
Or
Opt Out

Personalised Packages (Extra Dimensions)

Personalised Packages allow you to customise your medical plan at no extra cost. Each member receives a choice of two packages under the Horizon 2 plan.

The default Personalised Packages of You Extra and Sports Extra will show on myChoice for you and all your dependants. If you wish to change your Personalised Packages you must make a selection, otherwise the defaulted options will be in place.

Changes to your personalised packages can only be made during a New Joiner or Annual Enrolment window, with the exception of maternity extra and fertility extra which can be updated at any point throughout the year.

Further information about this benefit is available inside your myChoice account.

Opting out

You may ‘opt out’ via myChoice to receive cash back, provided you have alternative medical insurance. The amount that is released to you will be the value of your own cover and not that of your dependants. 

IMPORTANT: You must actively opt out of the PMI scheme during the Annual Enrolment Window to retain your (PMI) cash back each year. If you do not opt out, you will be automatically assigned to the default standard core plan.

Remember that if you take out private medical insurance earlier in life, and retain it, you will pay lower premiums compared to someone who joins after the age of 35. Refer to the Lifetime Community Rating pop-up.

Lifetime Community Rating

On 1st May 2015 there was a change to the community rating system for health insurance premiums. From this date individuals above the age of 34, who never had health insurance, would be charged an additional loading on their health insurance premium. The loading equates to 2% for each year above the age of 34 e.g. if a new member is 40 years old, with no previous insurance, he/she will pay the loading for 6 years (2% x 6 years = 12% loading above the standard premium).

Important Note: Please contact the private medical insurance provider to check whether this payment is required from you. HPE cannot waive this requirement nor pay it on your behalf. 

If you do not contact the provider, the loading will be assumed, and you will not be on cover until the payment has been processed. During this time, any payroll deductions applicable to your medical selection will continue regardless of whether the LCR late entry loading has been paid and whether or not the provider has placed you and any relevant dependants on medical cover.

Please refer to the ‘Employee Guide to LCR’ document available inside myChoice.

Dental

We offer a range of cover options for you and your family to take care of all your dental needs. There are 3 options to choose from, which offer an increasing scale of cover. Full details on the different levels are available in myChoice. 

Reimbursement is on a fixed percentage basis, depending on the treatment undertaken and there is an annual maximum level of treatment that is covered. There is no waiting period for any procedure.

Dental

Dental Insurance, provided by DeCare dental, helps cover the financial burden of dental treatment whether that be routine and/or unexpected emergencies. 

Dental Insurance helps by providing; 

  • Immediate cover for check-ups, cleaning & x-rays.
  • Immediate cover for emergency treatment.
  • Excellent benefits for expensive treatments, like fillings, extractions, root canals, crowns and orthodontics.

You can choose one of the following 3 plans for yourself and any dependants: Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 Plus.

Further information about this benefit is available inside your myChoice account.