Baby bills in intensive care

eimsRV

My baby daughter arrived 8 weeks early and due to her being premature she spent 3 weeks in ICU 1, ICU 2 and special care in hospital. The care in Holles St was exceptional for both myself and her. I was going private and had paid my 4K bill to the consultant.
I have a query about costs for baby care! 2 days after she was discharged I received a bill for 9982 euro for her stay in icu!!THANKFULLY I have VHI cover and they covered this.
On the bill it has that she is a private patient but obviously evry baby in icu receives the same care. Does it go that automatically she is listed as private because i was? At no time while she was in care, or before she was born were any costs discussed with us. I guess my problem with this is that if I didnt have vhi cover would I have been stuck with a bill of 10K because I'd gone private, do they charge babies of public patients this as well?
Dont get me wrong, i'd have given up my house if necessary to make sure she got the care she needed. And like i said the doctors and nurses were just brilliant and definetly earn their money in there. Just wondering if anyone else has any experience of this?

Victor

There are a couple of factors involved in "private"

Treatment - I take it you had a private consultant that also cared for the child (I'm not sure where the line is drawn for gyn, obs, etc.).

Accommodation - whether you have a private / twin room or a ward.

Funding - you both didn't get put on a public waiting list.

Realise that, in Ireland, the primary objective is to take care of the patient, sorting bills can happen later.

Mr. Presentable

eimsRV wrote: »

My baby daughter arrived 8 weeks early and due to her being premature she spent 3 weeks in ICU 1, ICU 2 and special care in hospital. The care in Holles St was exceptional for both myself and her. I was going private and had paid my 4K bill to the consultant.
I have a query about costs for baby care! 2 days after she was discharged I received a bill for 9982 euro for her stay in icu!!THANKFULLY I have VHI cover and they covered this.
On the bill it has that she is a private patient but obviously evry baby in icu receives the same care. Does it go that automatically she is listed as private because i was? At no time while she was in care, or before she was born were any costs discussed with us. I guess my problem with this is that if I didnt have vhi cover would I have been stuck with a bill of 10K because I'd gone private, do they charge babies of public patients this as well?
Dont get me wrong, i'd have given up my house if necessary to make sure she got the care she needed. And like i said the doctors and nurses were just brilliant and definetly earn their money in there. Just wondering if anyone else has any experience of this?

Would you expect them to put her in a public ward while you were in private

littlebug

I remember the same with my first though the bill wasn't so big! I'm guessing when your vhi details are on the files they'll assume since you are private so will your baby. If you didn't have vhi but were paying in full for private care yourself I imagine you would be asked in advance.

Nipplenuts the babies in ic are all in the same ward irrespective of private/ public status or where the mother is.

gowayouttadat

So basically if you go public and something happens where the baby ends up in icu you'll be liable for bills like those above?

littlebug

No no if you're public your baby will be public too thus no costs. If you are private and have vhi I'm guessing they assume baby is private too. The only way you would end up having to pay bills is if you are private without vhi to cover it... but I would hope that in that case you would be consulted first so you could opt out of private care if you couldn't afford it.

The treatment the child would get wouldn't be any different.

Note all of this is just my own speculation!

Victor

Oh, check your VHI policy, but I think baby is covered until your first renewal after the birth.

mukki

Victor wrote: »

Oh, check your VHI policy, but I think baby is covered until your first renewal after the birth.

+1 we were told that by vhi in june, doubt it has changed

itsmine

That's the way the system works in Ireland. Had you been a public patient, you would have been treated by the obstetrician on duty, accommodated on a ward and your baby would have received the very same treatment in ICU SCBU etc.
Because you were a private patient, you were (most likely?) treated by your own private obstetrician, accommodated in a semi-private or private (if you were lucky!) room and your baby received the same treatment.

The difference is, because you were a private patient with VHI, your baby is also deemed to be private and billed as such. The good news for you is that your baby is covered under your VHI policy free until your renewal date, so you won't have to pay the baby's bill. I guess this system of private mother = private baby all contributes to the VHI premiums being high.

Congratulations on the new arrival by the way!

gowayouttadat

littlebug wrote: »

No no if you're public your baby will be public too thus no costs. If you are private and have vhi I'm guessing they assume baby is private too. The only way you would end up having to pay bills is if you are private without vhi to cover it... but I would hope that in that case you would be consulted first so you could opt out of private care if you couldn't afford it.

The treatment the child would get wouldn't be any different.

Note all of this is just my own speculation!

Ah right! Thanks. I've never had to take any notice of the private v public thing before so have no idea how it works.

Eyeofthetiger

Just a word of warning to anyone with newborns and health insurance. Make sure you ring up in the first few weeks to add your baby to your policy just to ensure that they are covered.
Don't know anyone personally... but relation of a friend got caught out by it and it does no harm to be sure!

Hellrazer

Our situation was different than the OP`s.
When our first was born 12 weeks early we had health insurance but our daughter wasnt automatically covered(going back 11 years now) but the consultant advised us to leave her as a public patient since the level of care in the ICU was the same regardless of public or private.

LegacyUser

gowayouttadat wrote: »

So basically if you go public and something happens where the baby ends up in icu you'll be liable for bills like those above?

In response to your question, i had my twins 12 weeks premature in the Coombe Hospital last April. They were in the ICU and neonatal unit for about 3 months. About 2 wks after they eventually came home, i received a bill from the Coombe Hospital for €750 for EACH baby! I was a public patient, my babies were public and i do not have VHI or a medical card, so i ended up having to pay the €1750 in total for their care whilst they were in the ICU. I am going to appeal it as my husband does not work and i cant afford to pay it.

So it does not only affect people who go private in hospitals.