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Payment for an ECG On Medical Card?

  • 23-06-2009 10:06am
    #1
    Mark#1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 565 ✭✭✭


    Hi,

    I don't know if this is in the apropriate forum - if not, please redirect me or mods feel free to move it.

    I'm on a medical card for a partcular doctor (I was made redundant in February). I recently had an ECG (and blood tests) done with a doctor who isn't my medical card doctor.

    I was told that the bloods were not covered by medical card so I've paid the €30 for that.

    This doctor is billing me €50 for the ECG, but they're claiming off the HSE for the consultation fee of €65, as a "Special Type Consultation" (STC), seeing as they're not my medical card doctor.

    I've contacted the HSE to see if I am liable to pay the ECG fee. If I am, fair enough, but has anyone else out there got any experience or advice/opinion on this?


    Thanks,

    Mark


Comments

  • #2
    jeckle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 652 ✭✭✭jeckle


    Hi Mark

    Do you have a full Medical Card or a GP Visit Card?

    I am a Medical Card holder & have never had to pay for routine type blood tests.

    You may want to read this article from the Fingal Independent

    But seeing as you attended a different GP to your own (maybe one in a Medical Centre?) things might be different, but if the doctor you attended is on the GMS Panel I can't see why you would have been charged.

    Make sure you post back when the HSE get back to you.


  • #3
    Kristopherus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,907 ✭✭✭✭Kristopherus


    The GP should NOT have charged you for the Bloo Tests or the ECG. And its rather mean of him to be claiming via STC. If you have not paid - DONT. Report him to youl local HSE office. Make sure you get the all the results bfore you do anything.


  • #4
    Mark#1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 565 ✭✭✭Mark#1


    Thanks for the replies folks.

    I'll clarify a few things before going any further:

    I have a full Medical Card, not a GP Visit card.

    The doctor charging for the ECG & bloods is not the doctor connect with my Medical Card - I visited him because he had a free appointment slot for me that morning (I was having pains in my chest) and he has an ECG machine.

    I used to use this doctor as our regular family GP (and was quite happy with him) till he was one of the earliest local doctors to hike his fees when that all started getting silly a few years ago, so I began using a different local doctor maybe three years ago (this doctor is the one my medical card is currently connected with).

    The HSE say that (they've contacted the doc to clarify things for me), the doctor is saying that because I used to be a regular "customer", apparently he's not deeming this visit in question to be a true STC.

    However, his receptionist says they're not charging me the €65 for the visit (because they can claim for that as an STC), but they are charging for the ECG (because if they try to claim for the ECG, any reimbursement will go to my medical card doctor), and the bloods, bacause (I can't quote, but can give a close paraphrase) "bloods are just not covered at all by the medical card".

    So a few thoughts I've had are:

    Should the ECG & bloods be considered to be "part of" the visit, and as such be "part of" the STC claim being made by the doc to the HSE?

    My medical card is not connected with this doctor, so even if he wanted to help me out, can he?

    The article in the Fingal Independent is interesting, but in that case, IIUC, it was the claimant's own doctor (the doctor connected with her medical card) that was charging her. In my case, the doc is not my medical card doc.

    I'm sure that if I'd gone to my medical card doc, I wouldn't be being charged for the bloods and the visit (they don't have an ECG machine).


    Thanks again for the replies guys,

    Mark


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