Private Health Insurance or NOT!!

xxfelix

Hope its ok to post this here! Sorry if its not.

Just wondering what you think of going with no Health Insurance.....Now i have it at mom paying 120 per mt with myself, hubby and 3 kids...but not sure realy what the benefits of having it are....had to have heart tests done and as it turns out i would have to pay too much well 10% of the final bill but that would result in jail cause dont have a bean:). Would it be terrible to go with no cover - like i know if something happened you'd have to be seen in hospital.....anyway sorry for babbling but just wondering hows the rest of ye fixed??

Thanks in advance

Essexboy

We had insurance for our little dog but decided to save the money in the credit union instead: she was gone within months.

We stopped our own private insurance and six months later I was told I had a life-threatening illness (similar to the little dog's!).

I guess we were just unlucky but that is my experience. Hope you make the right decision for you and yours.

Mint Sauce

Sligo Mod Note

Moved from Sligo forum to Banking & Insurance & Pensions.

Hope this is the appropriate place for it.

NuMarvel

Approximately half the population have health insurance, so that should probably give you an indication of the overall opinion on the matter. That number has decreased in the last few years because of the recession, but not by any drastic degree. It's was something like 52% and it's now about 48% I think.

The benefits of private health insurance is that it will cover some or all of the costs of receiving private healthcare. What's exactly covered depends on the plan you hold.

The main advantage of being a private patient is that in general it gives you quicker access than you would get being a public patient. As a private patient you'll see the consultant quicker, and you have a wider choice of hospitals to be admitted to which means shorter waiting times for admission, depending on what kind of treatment you need. The downside of all this is that you pay handsomely for the privilege of being a private patient (hence health insurance), whereas going publicly is effectively free (€75 per night for a max of 10 nights per year is the ceiling, including consultant costs before and after admission).

All of the above is on a general basis. There will be exceptions where there is little or no difference between public and private waiting times, I think neurology is one example. And the obvious exception is emergency treatment, in which case you'll be admitted as soon as is possible.

The National Treatment Purchase Fund seems to have made progress in reducing the waiting times to be admitted into hospital for non-emergency treatment, but they themselves say that the current bottleneck in the system is with people waiting to visit a consultant once referred by their GP. The NTPF has instigated some pilot programmes to tackle this, but there's nothing on a national level.

As such, my outlook is that health insurance is still a necessity, (but not one I'd go hungry for!). If the new Government can do something to tackle the waiting times for consultants, then I think this would reduce the necessity of health insurance, which is something I'd like to see. Then again, the new Government's eventual plan is health insurance for ALL of us, so maybe health insurance is here to stay!

In the meantime, as you would do with your car insurance or home insurance, always shop around on your health insurance, even if it's just to see if your own insurer has a better value plan. There is a bewildering array of plans on the market, but if you use the Health Insurance Authority's website (www.hia.ie), you'll be able to make a bit of sense of it. And it's no harm to check their latest news section every so often to see if there are any special offers running (usually reduced/free child rates).

xxfelix

Thanks for that NuMarvel - just annoying when you cant get covered privately when you need a job done! but i think the day i would cancel is the day i would need the F***ers.

Thanks Again:)

Pablo Sanchez

NuMarvel wrote: »

As a private patient you'll see the consultant quicker,


QUOTE]

Public and private patients have the same access to a consultant.
Public patients do have to wait for an appointment and the consultation will be free.

But they can ring an make a private appointment if they choose.

Public or private they need to pay for the private consultation out of their own pocket, insurance or not.

CathyMoran

If something goes wrong from my experience it is faster to get it done privatly - my husband and I have several pre-existing medical conditions and would be lost without it (maternity being the exception), you tend to see the consultant faster and tests are also done faster. I did not fit the "profile" for a particular illness but because of private health insurance had the tests done very soon after seeing the consultant privatly. I see it as necessary.

Pablo Sanchez

If James O'Reilly and the government implement their universal health insurance system it will be of benefit of everyone and hopefully will create a more efficient and well resourced health care system, the two tier system we have at the moment is not only unfair but its incredibly inefficient.