The teeth would rot in your head here...

MidlandsM

This country is so annoying......and wait till the next budget.:mad:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2010/0921/1224279345754.html?via=mr

Trashbat

What i can gather, basically a rural business goes bust in times of recession. What a scoop!

Whats next, farmers complaining about the prices paid bty the supermarkets?

He does mention that alot of local people will have to go to the next town, which would imply there is trade there. If the number wasn't significant enough to keep his business open, then its not significant enough to care about.

ejmaztec

MidlandsM wrote: »

This country is so annoying......and wait till the next budget.:mad:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2010/0921/1224279345754.html?via=mr

Yes, saw that yesterday. Another disgrace on top of all the other daily disgraces.

The dental facilities in Ireland were bad enough in the boom years, but even third world countries are ahead these days.

Sykk

Relevant

Cookie_Monster

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056038891

thebigbiffo

boo hoo i studied for 5 years thinking at the end i'd have a comfortable job for the rest of my life courtesy of the irish taxpayer...

welcome to recessionville, where cutbacks in public spending must be made or everybody gets f'ucked

now stop with yer f'uckin whinging and retrain as a male prostitute

ejmaztec

Trashbat wrote: »

What i can gather, basically a rural business goes bust in times of recession. What a scoop!

Whats next, farmers complaining about the prices paid bty the supermarkets?

He does mention that alot of local people will have to go to the next town, which would imply there is trade there. If the number wasn't significant enough to keep his business open, then its not significant enough to care about.

You'd have to be naive to think that only one dentist is going to go out of business through the entire country.

IvySlayer

Dental treatment in Ireland has always been very expensive, not they are forced to cut back like everyone else.

icywind1980

I don't get why people are so up in arms about the cost of dental care. When I was living and working in America, I had an American health insurance plan which deducted about 20 USD out of each pay check for dental. Then when I needed to see a dentist, I was charged the my deductible, 50 USD plus the cost of x-rays and the cost of further lab tests.

When I needed to see a dentist here, I payed 85 euro for a filling. X-rays were free and the dentist took the time to explain what he was doing and give me free advice on how to better care for my teeth.

Furthermore, in America I was told that if my insurance did not cover a procedure I could not get it done. Here, it's "got cash? get in the chair".

orourkeda

Quite a lot of bitterness in this thread.

Proof that even a university education wont even get you through this education on its own.

bonerm

thebigbiffo wrote: »

now stop with yer f'uckin whinging and retrain as a male prostitute

His lifetime supply of stolen rubber gloves could finally pay off.

bonerm

icywind1980 wrote: »

I don't get why people are so up in arms about the cost of dental care. When I was living and working in America, I had an American health insurance plan which deducted about 20 USD out of each pay check for dental. Then when I needed to see a dentist, I was charged the my deductible, 50 USD plus the cost of x-rays and the cost of further lab tests.

When I needed to see a dentist here, I payed 85 euro for a filling. X-rays were free and the dentist took the time to explain what he was doing and give me free advice on how to better care for my teeth.

Furthermore, in America I was told that if my insurance did not cover a procedure I could not get it done. Here, it's "got cash? get in the chair".

Not the best example for comparison.

Our healthcare isn't great like say a first world country such as Slovenia or Poland .... but at least it's better than the U.S.!

Aswerty

I wrote a thought out reply to this, then I realised I know nothing about dentistry and replaced it with an inane post.

Dardania

Was it sustainable to have the government subsidise the cost of dental care? Too often when the state subsidises services, people lose track of the actual cost of that service (how many college student think it only costs €1,500 to get a years education...?)

I know I'm saying something right wing in that maybe people should pay for services, as and when they need them...and have the private dental industry highly regulated to maintain quality

Cookie_Monster

Dardania wrote: »

Was it sustainable to have the government subsidise the cost of dental care?

yes, I think so . the long term health benefits from what is in effect quite a small payout fund themselves as such. Healthier happier more productive population to pay more tax.

obviously not that simple in reality but you get my drift...

starbelgrade

While I find it disturbing that there is essentially no funding of the cost of public health care of dental treatment to PRSI workers anymore, I am not bothered by the fact that private dentists are finding it difficult to survive without payments from the taxpayer.

For far too long, they have creamed money from both the state & private individuals & now they are suffering, I really have no sympathy for them.

gbee

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

yes, I think so . the long term health benefits from what is in effect quite a small payout fund themselves as such. Healthier happier more productive population to pay more tax.

obviously not that simple in reality but you get my drift...

Essentially an altruistic notion.

In practice however, the Dentist got paid per item at a price the patient could not afford.

It also removed the necessity to be competitive ~ just like the rest of the health service and the stupidly high fees the insurance companies actually pay out for procedures.

gurramok

Ah, another professional class which has been ripping off the Irish consumer gives out due to their high prices.

Only a fool would get their teeth repaired in this country. Go abroad to get your treatment and enjoy the holiday while your at it for less than the price you get your treatment here.

Dardania

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

yes, I think so . the long term health benefits from what is in effect quite a small payout fund themselves as such. Healthier happier more productive population to pay more tax.

obviously not that simple in reality but you get my drift...

In principle I see your point - of course it has wider social benefits. The problem I see is that with private individuals / companies (i.e. dentists in this case) being paid to conduct a service on the governments behalf is inevitably going to cost more to the tax payer than if these dentists were just employed by the HSE full stop. The government probably accepted the dentist's assertions that their operations costs went up over the boom years in line with inflation, whereas if they were employed it would have been much less (dictated by the number of dentists available on the jobs market)

I'd say that if you take what a dentist today consider their hourly rate has to be (taking into account overheads such as rent, electricity, support staff costs, supplies etc.) and compare it to what their hourly rate would have been if there was no subsidisation and people could chose the most competively priced denstist, I guarantee you that the private dentist's rate would be cheaper. I've seen this theory in practice with vets...

Maybe this dentists business anyhow wasn't sustainable given that there was one of him plus all his overheads...maybe he needed to be part of a larger practice with a few dentists to reduce the overhead cost

mikom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sd9Yibf_UXE

fonecrusher1

I couldn't care less to be honest.

I know a few people (including a family member) who were forced to go to Poland to get exstensive dental treatment because of the insane money being demanded by greedy dentists here. Literally thousands of euros. The places in Poland cost half the money & did excellent work.

Dentists in this country we're absolutely thieving money off people during the economic boom. Tough. Suck it up & deal with the current national crisis thats effecting everyone.

Bit off topic but; GP's are still robbing money from working people these days. 50/60 euros for a "consultation" is disgusting. Shame on you. Doctors who work in hospitals = real doctors. GP doctors? = $$$$$$$ KA-CHINGGG!!!...:rolleyes:

Dardania

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

I couldn't care less to be honest.

I know a few people (including a family member) who were forced to go to Poland to get exstensive dental treatment because of the insane money being demanded by greedy dentists here. Literally thousands of euros. The places in Poland cost half the money & did excellent work.

Dentists in this country we're absolutely thieving money off people during the economic boom. Tough. Suck it up & deal with the current national crisis thats effecting everyone.

Bit off topic but; GP's are still robbing money from working people these days. 50/60 euros for a "consultation" is disgusting. Shame on you. Doctors who work in hospitals = real doctors. GP doctors? = $$$$$$$ KA-CHINGGG!!!...:rolleyes:

Big time - just compare with the costs for vets, and they don't have the luxury of being able to ask their patients where it hurts.

Mr Benevolent

So dental surgeries are so dependent on subsidised income that they collapse without it? That's utterly insane, and shows how much the taxpayer has been ripped off to date.

bcirl03

What the hell am I paying my PRSI for if I cant even get a clean?

Should this not be the issue focused on here?

RobbieTheRobber

bcirl03 wrote: »

What the hell am I paying my PRSI for if I cant even get a clean?

Should this not be the issue focused on here?

I agree is this completely gone?

gurramok

bcirl03 wrote: »

What the hell am I paying my PRSI for if I cant even get a clean?

Should this not be the issue focused on here?

For the dole?

Timistry

icywind1980 wrote: »

I don't get why people are so up in arms about the cost of dental care. When I was living and working in America, I had an American health insurance plan which deducted about 20 USD out of each pay check for dental. Then when I needed to see a dentist, I was charged the my deductible, 50 USD plus the cost of x-rays and the cost of further lab tests.

When I needed to see a dentist here, I payed 85 euro for a filling. X-rays were free and the dentist took the time to explain what he was doing and give me free advice on how to better care for my teeth.

Furthermore, in America I was told that if my insurance did not cover a procedure I could not get it done. Here, it's "got cash? get in the chair".

Bad example IMO. The US health care system is a mess. Take the UK for example. I went into a dentist in the UK to get a small filling. There was an A1 sized pricelist up on the wall. All charges were clearly stated and all the basic procedures like extractions, fillings and cleaning a price set controlled by the NHS. The x-rays and initial checkup cost me nothing. The actual filling cost around 60eu tops and while he was waiting for the enamel to harden he scale and polished my teeth for free!!

In Ireland, a filling is around €80, x-rays €30, scale and polish €70. So four times the price for the same service:mad: Thats fuppin BS and just another example of how corrupt and insane this country became during the so-called boom years

ancapailldorcha

Timistry wrote: »

Bad example IMO. The US health care system is a mess. Take the UK for example. I went into a dentist in the UK to get a small filling. There was an A1 sized pricelist up on the wall. All charges were clearly stated and all the basic procedures like extractions, fillings and cleaning a price set controlled by the NHS. The x-rays and initial checkup cost me nothing. The actual filling cost around 60eu tops and while he was waiting for the enamel to harden he scale and polished my teeth for free!!

In Ireland, a filling is around €80, x-rays €30, scale and polish €70. So four times the price for the same service:mad: Thats fuppin BS and just another example of how corrupt and insane this country became during the so-called boom years

Sums it up really. I think the demise of the PRSI scheme is tragic but these scumbags really do have it coming. It's just sad that regular people's dental health is going to foot the real bill.

Mr Benevolent

bcirl03 wrote: »

What the hell am I paying my PRSI for if I cant even get a clean?

Should this not be the issue focused on here?

PRSI isn't a dental benefits tax.

anniehoo

No sympathy for him. The only reason i ever went to a dentist was because i was entitled to my free clean and polishes through the PRSI. Im fecked now if im goin to pay €60 for a bit of industrial strength toothpaste and 10 mins in the chair and nothing else. I know loads of people (one who was a vet who went back and did dentistry) just for the money. Says it all really :rolleyes:

MidlandsM

bcirl03 wrote: »

What the hell am I paying my PRSI for if I cant even get a clean?

Should this not be the issue focused on here?

Yes, that was the point of my original post.