12,000 give up health insurance in 3 months

cookie1977

Figures from the Health Insurance Authority show that around 1,000 people a week left the private health insurance market between July and the end of September. Since December 2008, 123,000 people have left the market.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1209/health.html

They are some figures. Some of them will be due to the unfortunate situation of people loosing their jobs and being unable to afford it anymore but that's not the whole story.

It seems to me to be counter productive for the government to cause some of the price increases in the private health insurance market via them increasing the costs of private beds in public hospitals. It's forcing more and more people off their private health insurance and on to the public system which in turn puts even more pressure on the public system and also reduces revenue for the public hospitals.

unclebill98

I'd say the majority don't find any extra value in having it.

I've done hard ship cases in my job and it's normally the first thing to go with people getting critical illness or income protection policies and then going onto the public system.

Most sight the fact that it still costs the same for doctor fees, blood tests etc with you then having to manually claim back at the end of the year. Most seem to forget to do this or loose the receipts etc.

I've even had one person say sure if your bad enough you'll get seen to anyhow.

Tbh I'm not surprised buy this.

cookie1977

It's not so much that people are giving it up that I'm puzzled by but rather the fact that the government are contributing to people leaving the private system and joining the public system. This can only add pressure to the public system when it's already under huge pressure. I think they're being very short sighted in this aspect.

Dubwat

I'm not surprised. Had to visit a consultant today. I needed a referral from my GP to begin with (€60). The nurse did most of the work (she told the consultant what was wrong with me). He spent 30 seconds with me, agreed with her, and said book him in for x,y,z (€200+€150).

And the results go back to my GP (€60).

Won't go into all the details but it's going to cost me €600+ out my own pocket and I pay approx. €60 a month in Health Insurance!!

I know which house Santa is visiting this year and it's not mine

tenchi-fan

Dubwat wrote: »

Won't go into all the details but it's going to cost me €600+ out my own pocket and I pay approx. €60 a month in Health Insurance!!

Depending on your package you can often get a refund of up to 50% of the GP/consultant fees.

If not, you can claim 20% back in tax.

marienbad

Dubwat wrote: »

I'm not surprised. Had to visit a consultant today. I needed a referral from my GP to begin with (€60). The nurse did most of the work (she told the consultant what was wrong with me). He spent 30 seconds with me, agreed with her, and said book him in for x,y,z (€200+€150).

And the results go back to my GP (€60).

Won't go into all the details but it's going to cost me €600+ out my own pocket and I pay approx. €60 a month in Health Insurance!!

I know which house Santa is visiting this year and it's not mine

Completely agree with you, this is a total racket by the medical profession . I have to get tests at least once a year but I must go through this rigmarole each time before being sent for the tests. For some there is no recession.