Laser eye surgery on medical card?

windston

Hi I was wondering does anyone know if you can get laser eye surgery done on the medical card?

dilallio

Don't think so - you can confirm with
HSE Info Line
1850 24 1850

Thucydides

I severely doubt this. If they only give 70€ (?) for a new pair of glasses, what makes you think they'll give a few thousand for laser eye?

If it was true though, i'd expect it would be on the websites of the laser eye surgery companies.

The Lovely Muffin

No. I asked my eye specialist I used to see and she said the HSE consider laser eye surgery "cosmetic surgery" and they don't deem it necessary. I find it baffling as you can get a boob job (augmentation) on the medical card, but that's another topic/thread.

If you have private health insurance, they may give you money towards it.

VHI give 15% back, which is €900. With Blackrock Clinic the surgery costs €6,000 euros, however, with €900 off with VHI it will only cost €5,100. There may be other places that do it cheaper than Blackrock.

Some places that do the LES may have a monthly payment plan, rather than having to pay all at once, but Blackrock Clinic don't have this option, unforunately.

mood

-Orlaith- wrote: »

No. I asked my eye specialist I used to see and she said the HSE consider laser eye surgery "cosmetic surgery" and they don't deem it necessary. I find it baffling as you can get a boob job (augmentation) on the medical card, but that's another topic/thread.

If you have private health insurance, they may give you money towards it.

VHI give 15% back, which is €900. With Blackrock Clinic the surgery costs €6,000 euros, however, with €900 off with VHI it will only cost €5,100. There may be other places that do it cheaper than Blackrock.

Some places that do the LES may have a monthly payment plan, rather than having to pay all at once, but Blackrock Clinic don't have this option, unforunately.

I assume the boob job is only for those are have very large breasts which cause serious back pain.

The Lovely Muffin

mood wrote: »

I assume the boob job is only for those are have very large breasts which cause serious back pain.

That's a boob reduction, I specified an augmentation, not a reduction.

Although you can get both a boob augmentation and a boob reduction on the medical card.

However, for an augmentation, you need a psychologists/psychiatrics report, whereas for a reduction you only need a GP referral.

But as I said, the debate on whether boob augmentations should be allowed on the medical card is a whole different topic/thread.

windston

mood wrote: »

I assume the boob job is only for those are have very large breasts which cause serious back pain.

nope you can get an enlargement done too claiming depression or somethin

LegacyUser

windston wrote: »

nope you can get an enlargement done too claiming depression or somethin

I'd imagine they'd grant this procedure on the medical card for women that have had a breast removed due to cancer or something like that, why on earth else would they grant an otherwise cosmetic procedure on the medical card.

Nidot

windston wrote: »

nope you can get an enlargement done too claiming depression or somethin

You can't just claim depression, you would need a qualified psychiatrist to evaluate you and then have them make a recommendation that the procedure is necessary to improve your quality of life.

No one can just claim depression. Mental health issues are a major problem in this country which need to be addressed.

ohanloj3

givemeabreak wrote: »

I'd imagine they'd grant this procedure on the medical card for women that have had a breast removed due to cancer or something like that, why on earth else would they grant an otherwise cosmetic procedure on the medical card.

They do offer augmentation for reasons other than mastenctomy, they can get it if they suffer with depression due to self consciousness/low self-esteem about small boobs

mood

ohanloj3 wrote: »

They do offer augmentation for reasons other than mastenctomy, they can get it if they suffer with depression due to self consciousness/low self-esteem about small boobs

I imagine thing would have to be more serious than being self consciousness/low self-esteem. Also I think these issues are more in depth and not the result of having small boobs. Depression is depression, nothing to do with looks. (I am speaking as someone who is not exactly 'large chested').

skooterblue

Lets get back on the thread people. We are talking about lazer eye surgery NOT boob jobs for free.
I think its a bit unreasonable to expect it.
Its not endangering your health ... is it ? That cant be remedied with with glasses.

Which do you think is money better prioritized? Money spent on dialysis treatment or cosmethic surgery which could be sorted for 200 euro. I think it is money poor spent when the long term benefits havent been proved.

On an add on Two of my lecturers (one PhD one masters in medical engineering) are millionaires through medical patents. They work as a consultants for a global pharma/biomedical company. Both of them wear glasses. I wear glasses and I can afford eye surgery on my own in Ireland. Think about it.

LegacyUser

actually the HSE provide breast augmentations and uplifts, and corrections aswell as reconstruction, they also provide gastric banding tummytucks eyelid surgery and a few other cosmetic bits and bobs, now some people think this is an absolute disrace and my best friend who is herself a newly qualified doctor challanged me on this i told her to go ask her gp to be refered so she did and was absolutly horrified when he refered her for a breast augmentation on her medical card, she thaught it was a holy disgrace and a waste of money, and I explained to her that every one needs to learn their craft, how can a surgeon repair a mastectomy patients breast if he doesn't know how to do a standard augmentation same oes for burn victims thats why they do the uplifts tummy tucks and eye lid sureries for medical card patients,its reat practice for dealing with skin excision and stuff, also people who do not have medical cards can also avail of thease services, you pay the standard anual hospital fee of €290 i believe

LegacyUser

lola 2020 wrote: »

actually the HSE provide breast augmentations and uplifts, and corrections aswell as reconstruction, they also provide gastric banding tummytucks eyelid surgery and a few other cosmetic bits and bobs, now some people think this is an absolute disrace and my best friend who is herself a newly qualified doctor challanged me on this i told her to go ask her gp to be refered so she did and was absolutly horrified when he refered her for a breast augmentation on her medical card, she thaught it was a holy disgrace and a waste of money, and I explained to her that every one needs to learn their craft, how can a surgeon repair a mastectomy patients breast if he doesn't know how to do a standard augmentation same oes for burn victims thats why they do the uplifts tummy tucks and eye lid sureries for medical card patients,its reat practice for dealing with skin excision and stuff, also people who do not have medical cards can also avail of thease services, you pay the standard anual hospital fee of €290 i believe

So basically this is the same theory as "models required" in the hairdressers you don't get a very experienced hairdresser and you don't have to pay because it's practice for them. That's even more of a disgrace, is there a procedure in place to let people know that this is the deal there in for, may turn out a half ass job but hey it's free. Disgusting.