Life without Medical Insurance

AdrianR

Hi,

I changed job at the end of the summer, last job was crap in every possible way with one exception; I had medical cover and it paid 50% of the cost for wife and kids.

New job doesn't have medical cover, I haven't contacted any companies to set it up, but I was listening to a debate on Newstalk last week re medical insurance and what you get for your money, the consenses seems to be that you will get seen quicker for non emergency cases and you get a private room, apparantly medical insurance companies don't even pay the hospital anything for the cost of a public bed if a private one isn't available.

I really wouldn't be inclined to shell out a lot of money for any kind of premium cover at the moment as we want to start saving as much as possible for college for the kids and we have a large family. My question is this, If you don't have medical insurance or a medical card would you have to pay out of your own pocket if you had to go to hospital and you went public?

lonestargirl

The bed charge is €75 per night up to a annual maximum of €750 per family. Everything else is covered. The biggest issue is the long waiting lists for elective procedures.

Arnold Layne

You could always go for the Hospital Saturday Fund which gives you some monetary cover and refunds you for Doctor Visits, Nights in hospital, etc. The amount you can claim depends on the plan you take up, but you can cover all your family.

Mucco

lonestargirl wrote: »

The bed charge is €75 per night up to a annual maximum of €750 per family. Everything else is covered. The biggest issue is the long waiting lists for elective procedures.

Yup, and health care costs are highly concentrated in the last year of life. In other words, if you are young, with no family history of health problems, you probably won't be needing much expensive health care.
I'm finding it hard to find offical data to back this up, but here's a graph from NZ (Fig 7.2):
http://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/research-policy/wp/2010/10-01/23.htm

5 years ago, I asked if I could change my workplace health insurance to cash. They refused - I haven't used it once.

AdrianR

Thanks for all the replies.

The bed charge is €75 per night up to a annual maximum of €750 per family

For all the family that would amount to 2 months premiums....speaks volumes.

The biggest issue is the long waiting lists for elective procedures.

As it happens I've been waiting 2 years for an out patients appointment, Private health cover was of no benefit, If it's an emergency you'll be seen anyway.

years ago, I asked if I could change my workplace health insurance to cash. They refused - I haven't used it once.

Last 2 babies we had there was no private room available, so it was of no benefit there either.

I think I'll save the money.

TheBody

Neither myself or my wife have medical insurance. About 2 years ago my wife's tonsils went nuts and needed to be removed. We paid €120 to meet the consultant privately and then went public for the operation. This meant that she was waiting about a month from the consultation to the operation. The operation only cost €75 which is the fee for an over-night stay in the hospital. Health insurance is a waste of money in my opinion.

okiss

If you have a family I would look at the hia.ie website and look under compare cash plans. These will give you money towards your health cost but this is not health insurance.
I would look at the hsf policies the scheme 1450, scheme 2050, scheme 2650, scheme 3600 and scheme 4550 would cover parents and any children under the age of 21 who live at the same address.
The above are not to expensive a month but will give you money towards dental, gp, optical benefits ect which can cost most families a lot.
Also keep all your receipts. When you make a claim from the hsf you should be able to claim further on the med one form.

NuMarvel

TheBody wrote: »

Neither myself or my wife have medical insurance. About 2 years ago my wife's tonsils went nuts and needed to be removed. We paid €120 to meet the consultant privately and then went public for the operation. This meant that she was waiting about a month from the consultation to the operation. The operation only cost €75 which is the fee for an over-night stay in the hospital. Health insurance is a waste of money in my opinion.

FYI, under Dept of Health guidelines, a person who sees a consultant privately but opts for treatment under the public system is normally placed on the hospital waiting list where they would have been if they saw the consultant on the public system.

There are allowances for when someone needs urgent treatment though.

I only mention it in case people think that seeing the consultant privately will always get them onto the public hospital waiting list quicker. It might work that way in some circumstances, but it could also mean a person is waiting just as long anyway.

And on a tangential note, some consultants public outpatient clinics are nearly as quick as their private lists. My mum was given a consultant's appointment for Thursday last week, and when she enquired about a private appointment, she was told she could have one for the previous Monday; only 3 days earlier. She stuck with the public appointment.

TheBody

NuMarvel wrote: »

FYI, under Dept of Health guidelines, a person who sees a consultant privately but opts for treatment under the public system is normally placed on the hospital waiting list where they would have been if they saw the consultant on the public system.

There are allowances for when someone needs urgent treatment though.

I only mention it in case people think that seeing the consultant privately will always get them onto the public hospital waiting list quicker. It might work that way in some circumstances, but it could also mean a person is waiting just as long anyway.

And on a tangential note, some consultants public outpatient clinics are nearly as quick as their private lists. My mum was given a consultant's appointment for Thursday last week, and when she enquired about a private appointment, she was told she could have one for the previous Monday; only 3 days earlier. She stuck with the public appointment.

I disagree with the statement in bold. Half the delay in waiting for an operation etc is waiting to see the consultant in the first place. Paying to see the consultant privately cuts that wait by a LONG time. For example I had to see a consultant about a nasel problem I was having. The GP told me I'd prob have to wait about two years to see a consultant on the public system. I paid privately to see one and went public for all the scans/mri's etc. Had all done in about 3 months.

rilly99

Question- I hear the words elective procedures a lot what in plain English does this mean

Comment-n regard to costsI am similiar I have cover with Aviva 4 adults @1030.00 each level 2 ( switched from VHI 2 years ago ) , just got renewal and it is now 1286.00 per adult , I cannot afford this and looking to downgrade cover for kids ( adult kids) problem I have is that the seem to change the names of the plans ( eg Plan B options no longer mentioned in VHI - which I was on originally ) also very hard to really work out what cover you might need if no prevailing medical condition-

Question - Anyone know anyhting about Quinn / Laya palns ???

broker2008

The Laya plans are good but do go back to Aviva as they have a number of cheaper options. If you have a small excess you would be able to save 500 euro easily enough. You went from probably Plan B and moved over to a similar enough plan Level 2 Hospital . Neither of them have an excess. Vhi would have plans that have an excess too as do Laya. Plan B is €1,364 per adult and going up next month too.

NuMarvel

TheBody wrote: »

I disagree with the statement in bold. Half the delay in waiting for an operation etc is waiting to see the consultant in the first place. Paying to see the consultant privately cuts that wait by a LONG time. For example I had to see a consultant about a nasel problem I was having. The GP told me I'd prob have to wait about two years to see a consultant on the public system. I paid privately to see one and went public for all the scans/mri's etc. Had all done in about 3 months.

As I said, under Dept of Health guidelines, seeing the consultant privately shouldn't normally get you into the public hospital bed quicker. Maybe it's up to each consultant and hospital whether they stay within those guidelines, but it's not guaranteed to always get someone in quicker.