Private Vs Public Healthcare in Ireland

pinkyeye

This question has occurred to me in response to someone else asking a question about moving to another country.

People say to get good healthcare here all you have to do is pay for private health insurance but there are a couple of huge problems with that.

1. When an ambulance has to be called they will not go to a private hospital so no advantage whatsoever to having private health insurance.

2. How do you keep paying the private health insurance when you become a pensioner and because the levelling has been done away with you end up paying 3 or 4k per year for it. If you haven't got enough money for the heating you're not going to keep paying the private health insurance.

But another question it brought up for me is let's say an ambulance is called for Leo Vadrakar? Does he end up in Tallaght A&E? Does he fcuk? So our politicians are not living in the real world. That right there is the reason why the problems in our health service are not getting solved.

Those in power never ever suffer what the rest of us do.

Graces7

Have a read on the "Rate my Hospital" site. These days private health care seems as bad ad public... And there are stars in both areas. Nothing to do with privilege

Wanderer78

Health care systems, does anyone know what to do with them!

Wibbs

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Health care systems, does anyone know what to do with them!

Whatever we do don't ask the Americans.

Private healthcare is relatively useless as access to it can still be blocked by a GP.

markjack98

I’m on the parent’s health insurance but

Had an emergency one night and ended up in a public A&E. Spent 12 hours waiting on doctor and was seen for a good 30 seconds and told to come back in 12 weeks.

Obviously not happy with the above so went to a private A&E once they opened the following morning. Was seen to in 5 minutes and emergency consultant sat with me for 40 minutes initially and then I was back and forward seeing him for the day.

At the end of the say he decided to refer me to a consultant for the issue I had. Got a next day appointment with him.

Went to his clinic and he decided to admit me to hospital. He called the ward and there was a private room waiting for me in 30 minutes. Was there for a week and ended up having surgery.

Had to go for a follow up in another private hospital the following week. I was due to be there for an hour. Ended up there for half the day and the nurse was in no rush at all, as far as I know I was her only patient that day.

6 weeks after that I got a letter in the post for an appointment in the public hospital 8 weeks later. For those 14 weeks I wouldn’t of been able to leave my house.

If it wasn’t for the private health insurance I probably would’ve ended up with severe depression. I’m thankful my parents had it and as soon as I turn 25, I’ll be buying it myself.

X111111111111

markjack98 wrote: »

I’m on the parent’s health insurance but

Had an emergency one night and ended up in a public A&E. Spent 12 hours waiting on doctor and was seen for a good 30 seconds and told to come back in 12 weeks.

Obviously not happy with the above so went to a private A&E once they opened the following morning. Was seen to in 5 minutes and emergency consultant sat with me for 40 minutes initially and then I was back and forward seeing him for the day.

At the end of the say he decided to refer me to a consultant for the issue I had. Got a next day appointment with him.

Went to his clinic and he decided to admit me to hospital. He called the ward and there was a private room waiting for me in 30 minutes. Was there for a week and ended up having surgery.

Had to go for a follow up in another private hospital the following week. I was due to be there for an hour. Ended up there for half the day and the nurse was in no rush at all, as far as I know I was her only patient that day.

6 weeks after that I got a letter in the post for an appointment in the public hospital 8 weeks later. For those 14 weeks I wouldn’t of been able to leave my house.

If it wasn’t for the private health insurance I probably would’ve ended up with severe depression. I’m thankful my parents had it and as soon as I turn 25, I’ll be buying it myself.

Let's hope you can afford it.

Mrs OBumble

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Private healthcare is relatively useless as access to it can still be blocked by a GP.

A GP is by definition part of the private healthcare system (paid for the govt if you're a medical card holder).

If you don't like what one says, consult another one.

Caranica

Was sent by my doctor to a private A&E with suspected heart issues. Seen immediately. Battery of tests, in and out in 5 hours as thankfully the issue isn't dangerous at this time.

Knee problems, MRI in 2 days. Saw consultant, surgery the next week.

That's private healthcare, and why I pay for health insurance.

Under the public system it took 9 months to get a physio appointment and 15 months for an important diagnostic test. Hence the decision that good health insurance is essential. It's bloody expensive but I can't afford not to have it

stefanovich

Wibbs wrote: »

Whatever we do don't ask the Americans.

We just ask them to pay for all the new drug development.

martyoo

It's hard to believe that there are still people out there that believe private health care doesn't matter. I hope they don't have to find out the hard way.

wassie

stefanovich wrote: »

We just ask them to pay for all the new drug development.

We all pay as taxpayers via a health system, like most developed nations.

Whilst our Govt controls what we pay, America doesn't and the big pharma charges what it wants to the consumer, hence why their system is screwed.

X111111111111

martyoo wrote: »

It's hard to believe that there are still people out there that believe private health care doesn't matter. I hope they don't have to find out the hard way.

Matter of principle for me tbh.

ohnonotgmail

Wibbs wrote: »

Whatever we do don't ask the Americans.

that response can be applied to many different areas of life.

GooglePlus

Graces7 wrote: »

Have a read on the "Rate my Hospital" site. These days private health care seems as bad ad public... And there are stars in both areas. Nothing to do with privilege

People who are private patients will write off a private hospital over something petty like there not being enough food options.

I'm currently waiting for a heart check that should be quite urgent, but instead i'm left waiting months. If I could go private, i'd be seen in a day, so that option is far better that the public option.

Wanderer78

GooglePlus wrote:

I'm currently waiting for a heart check that should be quite urgent, but instead i'm left waiting months. If I could go private, i'd be seen in a day, so that option is far better that the public option.

Why can't you go private?

GooglePlus

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Why can't you go private?

I don't have the insurance nor the money to go private.

I've been told by 2 gps that my heartbeat is irregular and have been getting random skips in beat. One GP even wrote in to Vincent's again to see about getting an earlier appointment but that didn't help.

I plan on getting a health insurance plan in the new year but I can't make heads or tails of the plans available. I couldn't afford more than 1000 per annum.

Wanderer78

GooglePlus wrote:

I don't have the insurance nor the money to go private.

That's an absolutely disgraceful situation, nobody should be without adequate health care, because they can't afford it

wassie

The funny thing with insurance, it doesn't seem of value until you need to call on it.

AndrewJRenko

GooglePlus wrote: »

I don't have the insurance nor the money to go private.

I've been told by 2 gps that my heartbeat is irregular and have been getting random skips in beat. One GP even wrote in to Vincent's again to see about getting an earlier appointment but that didn't help.

I plan on getting a health insurance plan in the new year but I can't make heads or tails of the plans available. I couldn't afford more than 1000 per annum.

You'll also be waiting for five years for cover for a pre-existing condition.

GooglePlus

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

You'll also be waiting for five years for cover for a pre-existing condition.

Aye, now it's on record that I have a potential heart issue, so they won't want to touch me and if they did, they'll pull every string to reduce cover for what i'll actually eventually need it for.

wassie

Maybe worth exploring this - In fairness I do not have a clear understanding myself so take it at face value only
https://www.rte.ie/news/health/2019/1206/1097447-truths-about-eu-funded-health-schemes/

BarryD2

markjack98 wrote: »

I’m thankful my parents had it and as soon as I turn 25, I’ll be buying it myself.

The problem is that once you're in, it's very hard to back out. The health insurers have you over a barrel and can increase fees year on year. Try backing out and you lose the credit you've supposedly built up.

Health insurance is marketed like a pension scheme but in reality is sold like car or house insurance. It's a grave deception. Miss an annual payment to your pension and that's fine, you're just down a bit. Miss your health insurance for a year and try getting back in for the same price...

FishOnABike

BarryD2 wrote: »

The problem is that once you're in, it's very hard to back out. The health insurers have you over a barrel and can increase fees year on year. Try backing out and you lose the credit you've supposedly built up.

Health insurance is marketed like a pension scheme but in reality is sold like car or house insurance. It's a grave deception. Miss an annual payment to your pension and that's fine, you're just down a bit. Miss your health insurance for a year and try getting back in for the same price...

This is something the government managed particularly badly when introducing risk equalisation regulations.



People who had been members of a private health insurance scheme for most of their working life but may have had to break their membership for a period e.g. due to exiting a work related scheme due to job loss during the recession may as well never have had private health insurance when it came to rejoining at a later date.


Hard pressed pensioners who had given up their private health insurance when medical cards were given to all over 70 found themselves effectively priced out of private health insurance if they sought to rejoin a short few years later when their medical card eligibility was removed.


The governement of the day was quick enough to apply lifetime average to pensions to reduce future pension payments but seems to have been reluctant to apply the same principle to peoples access to private health insurance.

Geuze

FishOnABike wrote: »

Hard pressed pensioners who had given up their private health insurance when medical cards were given to all over 70 found themselves effectively priced out of private health insurance if they sought to rejoin a short few years later when their medical card eligibility was removed.

Was this common?

Why would you give up health ins if you qualify for the GMS full med card?

They cover different things.

The GMS med card is used to pay for GP visits and pharma.

Health ins is mainly for hosps.

The whole point of health ins is to skip the queue.

If you have a GMS med card, you face a queue.

So they are not a replacement for each other?

Caranica

GooglePlus wrote: »

I'm currently waiting for a heart check that should be quite urgent, but instead i'm left waiting months. If I could go private, i'd be seen in a day, so that option is far better that the public option.

Contrast that with my previous post. GP detected an issue, sent me straight to private hospital A&E as I had insurance. Seen straight away and all the tests I needed were done there and then.

It sucks that health insurance is necessary but it can save lives. My parents drilled it into us that health insurance was something we had to have when we started working. Some people can't afford to have it but can't afford not to have it either.

Would sooner not take out car insurance, park in front of the garda station and give the sergeant two fingers than not keep our health insurance.

decky1

I was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2010, no private health insurance, taken straight away to St James, where i got the best care and attention, I honestly can't see how private health insurance would have been any better, the staff from the cleaners to the top doctors were amazing, i feel so lucky , thanks to them i'm here today. back there every 6 months and they still do their very best to make sure i'm ok. I have learned that when you go to hospital you need to be patent [excuse the pun] people seem to think they have the right to be seen straight away, they will see you if your in danger, just think there are hundreds at that hospital too on the day the staff can't see everyone the minute they walk through the door,. I realise people are left on trollies etc but when you have a government [whoever it may be at the time] seeing hospital wards closing but still giving money along with the lotto to the Gaa and now 5 million to RTE for the next 5 years it would make you think, to me Hospitals should come first along with treating the staff properly with pay and conditions, where would we be without them.

1641

GooglePlus wrote: »

Aye, now it's on record that I have a potential heart issue, so they won't want to touch me and if they did, they'll pull every string to reduce cover for what i'll actually eventually need it for.

You will have to serve the 5 year waiting period for treatment of a pre-existing condition (I understand that some of this can be waived in some circumstances - at the company's discretion). But the company (whatever one) cannot deny you any policy that is on offer to the public and they cannot apply any restrictions not listed generally in the policy (other than the 5 year wait).


https://www.hia.ie/consumer-information/waiting-periods/new-customer-waiting-periods

decky1

decky1 wrote: »

I was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2010, no private health insurance, taken straight away to St James, where i got the best care and attention, I honestly can't see how private health insurance would have been any better, the staff from the cleaners to the top doctors were amazing, i feel so lucky , thanks to them i'm here today. back there every 6 months and they still do their very best to make sure i'm ok. I have learned that when you go to hospital you need to be patent [excuse the pun] people seem to think they have the right to be seen straight away, they will see you if your in danger, just think there are hundreds at that hospital too on the day the staff can't see everyone the minute they walk through the door,. I realise people are left on trollies etc but when you have a government [whoever it may be at the time] seeing hospital wards closing but still giving money along with the lotto to the Gaa and now 5 million to RTE for the next 5 years it would make you think, to me Hospitals should come first along with treating the staff properly with pay and conditions, where would we be without them.

Accute conditions like cancer it is the exact same, if you have a chronic condition that when you got value from private insurance. I have had treatment in both the public and private systems an the treatment is the exact same however in the private system i got a an ensuite private room in very nice calm hospital.

FishOnABike

Geuze wrote: »

Was this common?

Why would you give up health ins if you qualify for the GMS full med card?

They cover different things.

The GMS med card is used to pay for GP visits and pharma.

Health ins is mainly for hosps.

The whole point of health ins is to skip the queue.

If you have a GMS med card, you face a queue.

So they are not a replacement for each other?

I don't know if it was common but I do know of people who, weighing up their finances, either considered or did leave their private health insurance when the GMS card was given to all over 70.


The GMS memdical card does cover hospital treatment in addition to GP visits and pharma but a person would be on a public waiting list for any non-urgent treatment.


Private health insurance is useful for being seen quicklly for elective or non-urgent treatment or if a person wants a (not guaranteed) private room, but the medical treatment should be the same for private or public patients.

GooglePlus

GooglePlus wrote: »

People who are private patients will write off a private hospital over something petty like there not being enough food options.

I'm currently waiting for a heart check that should be quite urgent, but instead i'm left waiting months. If I could go private, i'd be seen in a day, so that option is far better that the public option.

And when you do get seen, it'll be by the same doctor. Have seen it with friends and their kids, and have seen the same thing myself. Personally having consultants using public hospitals for their own private practice is a part of the issue in my opinion.

Geuze

FishOnABike wrote: »

The GMS memdical card does cover hospital treatment in addition to GP visits and pharma but a person would be on a public waiting list for any non-urgent treatment.

Yes, although note that the only two charges for public healthcare in Ireland are:

100 A+E fee
80 pn if you stay overnight in hosp

The best thing to do would get the hips knees and the like done when you are still working and have the high-end health insurance then when you get the GMS card you will be grand.

A chronic condition like age-related heart disease and chronic diabetes you might as well be in the public system being able to see a consultant as opposed to his team won't do much for you.

There is also the like of the national treatment purchased fund so you won't be waiting for your cataract operation.

decky1

mariaalice wrote: »

Accute conditions like cancer it is the exact same, if you have a chronic condition that when you got value from private insurance. I have had treatment in both the public and private systems an the treatment is the exact same however in the private system i got a an ensuite private room in very nice calm hospital.

I got the same type of room in St James.

decky1

decky1 wrote: »

I got the same type of room in St James.

It was the only difference i could see that and getting appointments to suit youself and seeing the consultant each time, my brother in law was in a room by himself for a particular reason in a public hospital but it is not the same as the type of accommodation you get in a private hospital, but when you are sick you don't care you just want to get out of there

The big one though, even if you have gold plate health insurance there is no way of skipping A&E unless its is a planned admission.

Diceicle

I had my own experience of the public v private hospitals recently:-

I had a fall and hurt my back, hip, and ribs. Could barely move without wincing in pain - felt like my coccyx had a small fracture. Very painful. I'm not even 40 but getting in and out of a car I was like a 90-year-old. Moving from reclining (like on the couch) to standing was painful and slow.

I managed to get in to see a GP who referred me for scans - Chest and pelvic.

Tallaght wanted me to go to the post office and post them my letter - wouldn't accept an email because of GDPR (wtf?). They would see me in 4-5 days for chest, then come back to them 'after Christmas' for the pelvic scan. It was the start of November when I was speaking to them.

St James' faired slightly better. They would accept the email of the appointment letter (so no consistency in terms of information handling), but IIRC they had a wait of up to 10 days to do the scans.

Ended up going to a private hospital. Was seen the following morning. I expected to wait 2-3 hours, as I'd not gone private before - I was seen, scanned and heading to the exit within 20 minutes.

I'm still perplexed as to how the differences were so stark - is it just patient volume?

babyboom

The big difference between private and public health care is the waiting time to see a consultant and for any follow up procedures/tests.

I have a bowel issue. Was sent to A&E in February. Referred to gastro consultant via public system. Had my appointment in July. I was put on the list for a colonoscopy and was due to have it on 28 November. Endoscopy dept called the day before (after I had started taking the prep) to say A&E had taken the beds and my appt was cancelled. My new appt is 02 January. Now my GP had written to them a few months back to say this test was urgently needed and yet I'm still waiting. If I had health insurance my tests and results would have been done months ago and my condition would not have deteriorated to the extent it has. I may now be in serious trouble. Early detection is the most important part of any diagnosis and those of us relying on the public system are losing out on this.

Mrs OBumble

decky1 wrote: »

I was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2010, no private health insurance, taken straight away to St James, where i got the best care and attention.

Glad it worked for you.

I was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous condition.

It took six months waiting after that to get surgery. In that time, pre cancerous had turned to early stage cancer. Great treatment from the public system once I got in but it would have been far more cost effective and less stressful to just treat me more quickly.

tjhook

Diceicle wrote: »

Tallaght wanted me to go to the post office and post them my letter - wouldn't accept an email because of GDPR (wtf?).

GDPR is the new "computer says no". It's rarely applicable to these situations, but a handy excuse for service providers to make their lives easier.

I have private health insurance, wouldn't be without it. If the day comes when the public system is as good, I'll ditch the insurance. I imagine loads of people will.

What I'm not willing to do is continue to pay an annual premium to join what is effectively a public system. If I understand it, that's what the government's proposed "Slainte Care" adds up to.

Gen.Zhukov

My recent experience.
Back issue and had an MRI done within 2 weeks at a place that only does scans if you have HI.
Result sent to doc and there was possibly a very serious problem that needed to be looked into immediately. Doc says I need to go in through the ED (HI no advantage here)

22 Hrs going through the ED before getting into bed on a ward (Fecking nightmare)
During the ED fun the money girl drops by to ask me if I'm going to sign it over to my HI. "What if I do" I asked. "You might get the private room you're entitled to" I'm told.

I decided to think about it as I didn't want to consent to HI Co being billed if I wasn't getting anything special. A different and more honest money girl drops by the next day and tells me there is no hope of getting a private room as they're generally held for infectious cases.

I didn't sign to allow HI Co to be billed. If I had, the HI Co would have been billed, I estimate, about €11.5k and I got sfa in return.
I was talking to the HI Co during my stay and made them well aware that I had saved them a fair wedge. They did pick up the tab for some excess that I would have been due to pay so it kind of worked out.

I'd say there are lots of people that do sign the insurance form and the HI Co's are paying out millions to the various hospitals while getting nothing extra above what the average Joe gets.
There was defo a bit of guilt tripping coming from both of the money girls too, as though I was the b*****ks for not signing the insurance form.
We don't really get to hear much about that though.

Foweva Awone

My experience with public and private healthcare mainly involves my psychiatric health. I have, I suppose, a fairly complicated psychiatric diagnosis and have been hospitalised probably 15-20 times over the past 4-5 years, mostly private admissions but a few public admissions too.

In a private hospital, I have my own consultant who deals with me on every admission, and also sees me as an out-patient every three months. She is extremely skilled and knows me and my family very well. I'm on a lot of medication, which has taken much trial and error to get right, and she also manages the various programs that I've done to get me to where I am today. If I had a mental health crisis today, I'd call her team in the hospital and could expect to have a bed pretty much immediately, on a ward where the nursing staff know me.

Publicly, you have no continuity of care, which is SO important. If I was suicidal and/or self-harming, and sought help in a public hospital, I might or might not be admitted. If I was admitted I wouldn't know any of the staff and they wouldn't be familiar with my case. If I were referred publicly to any programs, you'd be talking about a wait of a couple of years before starting them.

Today I'm well, stable, I'm functioning, I'm a mother to my son, I'm a productive member of society with a good job in Finance, as well as studying part-time. I'm out the other side of it, and am now really, really glad to be alive ... but when I was very unwell and suicidal, if I'd had to rely on the public health services to get me through those couple of years, I'd very likely be dead and buried long ago.

I've seen quite a few friends take their own lives over the past couple of years, all of whom were engaged with the public mental health services, and they got very little help from them. It's very sad that lack of health insurance is the difference between me and them, it's the reason that I'm here today and they're not. Which is incredibly unfair.

Greentopia

pinkyeye wrote: »

This question has occurred to me in response to someone else asking a question about moving to another country.

That would be me. Thanks for starting this thread. I have a few questions of my own I want to ask as even though I'm Irish I have very little experience of the system here apart from a minor operation years ago and GP visits, and I've spent many years in other countries.

1. When an ambulance has to be called they will not go to a private hospital so no advantage whatsoever to having private health insurance.

I didn't see an answer to this question. I don't have private insurance at the moment. Supposing I needed to go to A&E and I decided I wanted to go to a private one to avoid the public A&E queues and trolleys and pay out of pocket, can I do so? Could I ask the ambulance crew to take me there (assuming I'm conscious lol) or would they automatically just bring you to the nearest public hospital?

For me private insurance here is massively devalued if you still end up for days on some trolley in A&E in a public hospital the same as any public patient. I don't live nor want to live in Dublin (no offence, just love the countryside) so wouldn't have the option of being taken straight to the Mater Private or whatever hospital politicans who are on gold plated private cover would be taken to.

I'm sure it must be possible to get private insurance that would cover stays of longer than three months in all EU countries, does anyone have experience of this and could you recommend an insurer that would be universally accepted?

I mean not just for cataracts or hip replacements like the CBD scheme but anything I could have done under the Irish service as a citizen of this country? My partner is from another EU country-Germany and we're soon to decide where we will live together-here or Sweden, but likely I will keep my house here in Ireland and he will return occasionally to visit family and friends in Germany so we will spend time each year in possibly three countries, but likely for more than three months abroad that the European Health Insurance Card would cover so we would possibly need private insurance to cover all countries.

Also, I used the EHIC in both those countries and it works well. Can it also be used if you actually live for up to three months in another country if say you wanted an elective procedure that there is a long wait for in this country-say I wanted to see a Gynae in Germany (can be one year waiting on the public system here) and I stay there up to three months. Would the public German system carry out any follow on treatment necessary or would they refuse as I'm not a citizen with Germany health insurance and tell me I had to wait until I returned to Ireland? I checked for this info online but couldn't find it.

I'm thinking if we split our time correctly between countries we may be able to be covered for everything in the public systems of Germany, Sweden and Ireland without having to take out private insurance at all, but maybe that's a fantasy :pac:

Greentopia

babyboom wrote: »

The big difference between private and public health care is the waiting time to see a consultant and for any follow up procedures/tests.

I have a bowel issue. Was sent to A&E in February. Referred to gastro consultant via public system. Had my appointment in July. I was put on the list for a colonoscopy and was due to have it on 28 November. Endoscopy dept called the day before (after I had started taking the prep) to say A&E had taken the beds and my appt was cancelled. My new appt is 02 January. Now my GP had written to them a few months back to say this test was urgently needed and yet I'm still waiting. If I had health insurance my tests and results would have been done months ago and my condition would not have deteriorated to the extent it has. I may now be in serious trouble. Early detection is the most important part of any diagnosis and those of us relying on the public system are losing out on this.

Must be so infuriating and frustrating to have to wait so long.
I wonder how much a colonoscopy costs getting it done privately without insurance? I always wonder if it's best to save up for any private care I might need out of my own pocket or get insurance.

Hope things turn out well for you and your finally get your appointment on January!

LuasSimon

markjack98 wrote: »

I’m on the parent’s health insurance but

Had an emergency one night and ended up in a public A&E. Spent 12 hours waiting on doctor and was seen for a good 30 seconds and told to come back in 12 weeks.

Obviously not happy with the above so went to a private A&E once they opened the following morning. Was seen to in 5 minutes and emergency consultant sat with me for 40 minutes initially and then I was back and forward seeing him for the day.

At the end of the say he decided to refer me to a consultant for the issue I had. Got a next day appointment with him.

Went to his clinic and he decided to admit me to hospital. He called the ward and there was a private room waiting for me in 30 minutes. Was there for a week and ended up having surgery.

Had to go for a follow up in another private hospital the following week. I was due to be there for an hour. Ended up there for half the day and the nurse was in no rush at all, as far as I know I was her only patient that day.

6 weeks after that I got a letter in the post for an appointment in the public hospital 8 weeks later. For those 14 weeks I wouldn’t of been able to leave my house.

If it wasn’t for the private health insurance I probably would’ve ended up with severe depression. I’m thankful my parents had it and as soon as I turn 25, I’ll be buying it myself.

What’s a private A & E ?? Or where ?

babyboom

Greentopia wrote: »

Must be so infuriating and frustrating to have to wait so long.
I wonder how much a colonoscopy costs getting it done privately without insurance? I always wonder if it's best to save up for any private care I might need out of my own pocket or get insurance.

Hope things turn out well for you and your finally get your appointment on January!

Thanks, it's both infuriating and scary. I feel like I'm living in Limbo all the time. I checked out getting it done privately and it's around 1300 Euros. If it's cancelled again I'll have to take that route.

Greentopia

tjhook wrote: »

GDPR is the new "computer says no". It's rarely applicable to these situations, but a handy excuse for service providers to make their lives easier.

I have private health insurance, wouldn't be without it. If the day comes when the public system is as good, I'll ditch the insurance. I imagine loads of people will.

What I'm not willing to do is continue to pay an annual premium to join what is effectively a public system. If I understand it, that's what the government's proposed "Slainte Care" adds up to.

From what I've read private health insurance will be an optional extra when it's introduced, it will be a single tier universal system that will be tax funded and which will remove private beds from public hospitals so the private sector will have to come up with hundreds of beds for their patients and expand their hospitals and clinics. And it will cost €700 million a year for the next ten years.

Which in Ireland means more like 20 and it may happen so I'm not betting on it.

daheff

I'd be interested to see how much is paid in private medical premiums annually. How far would that go in an all public system?

Cos in a lot of cases the Dr, staff & hospital for private & public are the same

jrosen

We have had HI for years now and tbh never really saw the benefit as thankfully we are all healthy and haven't required it. Until recently. I required a pelvic ultrasound.

Public wait list 18 months, private app 4 days. I paid 180 and then claimed back through my insurance

shesty

I have no problem with having private health insurance and getting good service in private hospitals.

The problem with the health system is that both public AND private patients are occupying beds, surgery times and consultant hours in public hospitals.That is the a large part of the problem with the public system.When the consultant who says you need a procedure done and the waiting list is 10 months will do it within a few days for you, once you meet him on a different day in his office (in the public hospital building) and hand him 150 eur....that is totally wrong.

A lot of people think you need health insurance because the public system is so bad but realistically if we had little or no health insurance and the public system had the staff and investment it needed, the public system would great.The halfway house situation of treating public and private patients in public facilities is just mad.And on top of it we are all paying at least twice, sometimes three times (tax, health insurance and on the spot fee) for the use of the same doctors and rooms (unless you specifically go private like the Beacon or Hermitage, which i have no issue with because they are what they say on the tin, basically).It's crazy.