Cross Border Healthcare Directive for Orthodontics

shaken not stired

Hi All,

For those who like myself a mare 8 weeks ago , had no clue about the Cross Border Directive Scheme, where you can go up north to get your childs braces done and then apply for reimbursement . GET APPLYING.

Conditions:
Your child has to be on the Orthodontics waiting list and to be on that list a HSE dentist would have needed to refer them for orthodontic assessment. You must have a medical card or private health insurance. YOUR CHILD MUST BE UNDER 16

The HSE will reimburse you up to a max of €2200.

As I said I had no clue about this until only 8 weeks ago. And when I heard about it, I contacted Cross Border who are based in Kilkenny for the forms to be sent to me. Thats basically it. They dont provide you with a list of Ortho you can go to, or even recommend any to you as they are not allowed to, so I was told, due to advertisement and more so incase anything came back on them based on their recommendation. Its up to you to find the right one.

My son had his braces and all fitted within 6 weeks. The waiting list down south is over 23000, the waiting list up north 0. I phoned around, got a few quotes up in Enniskillen as its closer to me than Newry. Most dentists up north will be aware of the Cross Border Scheme when you mention it to them and some do payment plans(but I find the payment plans work out dearer overall) The best quote I got was from SNIP - NO CLINIC NAMES ALLOWED PLEASE READ FORUM CHARTER. They are very efficient and extremely nice.

How to get your money back:
Get the chosen Orthodontist to fill out the form, keep all receipts and invoices, including receipts for petrol, buses, food, anything at all you got,even a cup of coffee, as the HSE requires all of these as proof of travel. You can send these in each time you pay if doing payment plan, or if you paid in full you just send it all in at once. It then takes 14-30 days to get reimbursement. GOOD LUCK

MOD EDIT: I fixed a few things in your post. Please be aware that mentioning clinic names is not allowed on the forum.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

When you say up to 2200, how much actual money did the HSE give you?
Do the HSE allow you to use a local private orthodontist or do they have to be in a different country?

shaken not stired

Livia Purple Battalion wrote: »

When you say up to 2200, how much actual money did the HSE give you?
Do the HSE allow you to use a local private orthodontist or do they have to be in a different country?

They gave me what the actually Orthodontist service cost. I got quoted the Total amount from the Ortho. Paid in full in Sterling and then received the converted amount from the Cross Border Scheme after I supplied to them my receipts and invoices. The full cost for the braces including all check ups and any tighten etc for us was £1320. That converted worked out €1635. As I said a few places quoted dearer so if you go to a dearer place the HSE will only pay up to 2200 even if it has cost you more. No they don't allow local private, it has to be cross border.

Oral Surgeon

shaken not stired wrote: »

They gave me what the actually Orthodontist service cost. I got quoted the Total amount from the Ortho. Paid in full in Sterling and then received the converted amount from the Cross Border Scheme after I supplied to them my receipts and invoices. The full cost for the braces including all check ups and any tighten etc for us was £1320. That converted worked out €1635. As I said a few places quoted dearer so if you go to a dearer place the HSE will only pay up to 2200 even if it has cost you more. No they don't allow local private, it has to be cross border.

So the HSE can't handle its own waiting lists but will pay foreign private orthodontists to treat Irish patients abroad but not pay local private orthodontists for the same job...!!

Is that anti competitive or discriminatory???

lexa

It's an EU directive -I don't think the HSE get a choice in whether they participate in it.

Although would Irish orthodontists treat patients for €2,000? - less than half of their private fees?
I'd imagine that's unlikely.

davo10

lexa wrote: »

It's an EU directive -I don't think the HSE get a choice in whether they participate in it.

Although would Irish orthodontists treat patients for €2,000? - less than half of their private fees?
I'd imagine that's unlikely.

As far as I'm aware, it allows treatment to be recieved in other EU countries if waiting lists are too long in the country where you reside. I suspect this will be closed off pretty soon as UK will be leaving the EU in two and a half years time. Ortho treatment typically takes 1.5-2.5 years so it's likely the HSE will put some kind of time restriction on the date by which treatment must have commenced.

lawred2

Oral Surgeon wrote: »

So the HSE can't handle its own waiting lists but will pay foreign private orthodontists to treat Irish patients abroad but not pay local private orthodontists for the same job...!!

Is that anti competitive or discriminatory???

EU directive

So if you want to do this up North - better get cracking as after 2019 it's not going to be possible.

lawred2

lexa wrote: »

It's an EU directive -I don't think the HSE get a choice in whether they participate in it.

Although would Irish orthodontists treat patients for €2,000? - less than half of their private fees?
I'd imagine that's unlikely.

€2000 is chicken feed to an Irish orthodontist.