Do you have health insurance?

karlitob

alexonhisown wrote: »

Have had it for about 26 years and only used it once, but when i needed it i had surgery within 2 weeks. Would have been on waiting list for years otherwise. Not getting any younger so I dont want to give it up.

Whether or not that’s true, it proves my point that having savings for 26 years would be far better than insurance for one surgery in that time.

I would presume you still went a GP, physio or pharmacy privately in 26 years.

alexonhisown

karlitob wrote: »

Whether or not that’s true, it proves my point that having savings for 26 years would be far better than insurance for one surgery in that time.

I would presume you still went a GP, physio or pharmacy privately in 26 years.

I see your point but when i took out health insurance i didnt know i wouldn’t need it for many years, otherwise i WOULD have just saved the money instead

Bill Ponderosa

No, I'm lucky that I'm fit and healthy and don't need it, saving and investing my money instead. I'm doing alot of fitness work too which is keeping me in good condition.

Will get it down the line when myself and the wife move into middle/late 40's and start to get sick.

karlitob

alexonhisown wrote: »

I see your point but when i took out health insurance i didnt know i wouldn’t need it for many years, otherwise i WOULD have just saved the money instead

Of course, I understand that. Just highlighting the point to the OP.

I get why people want it. But I don’t think it provides what they think it does.

karlitob

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Paying €713 a year for it and the first time I actually need it for something I'm not covered. :rolleyes:

It is a good idea to have private health insurance but even with the myriad definite combinations it's extremely hard to find one suiting what I need. I have ansolutely no need or maternity or fertility benefits, yet a lot of plans seem to slap on plenty of those without offering anything back for basic GP visits or out-patient scans in a private hospital (even if you're just a day patient).

I used the hia.ie health comparison tool, went with what seemed like the widest ranging plan I could afford, and three full years of premiums later it's been fúck all use to me tbh. They make something that should be relatively straightforward ridiculously complicated.

Exactly. Private Practicioners don’t and can’t make money out of the things you need - everyday GP etc. They’ll cover the expensive stuff - and guess who wants you to use the expensive stuff!!

Stateofyou

karlitob wrote: »

It’s not broken.

We pay for our health care system out of our wages, yet unless we also pay on top of that for private health care, we may wait months even years to be seen. That in turn leads to worse health outcomes needing more intervention/treatment.

Broken.

Don't even get me started on the yearly trolley crises or the smear test scandal.

karlitob

Stateofyou wrote: »

We pay for our health care system out of our wages, yet unless we also pay on top of that for private health care, we may wait months even years to be seen. That in turn leads to worse health outcomes needing more intervention/treatment.

Broken.

Don't even get me started on the yearly trolley crises or the smear test scandal.

What smear test scandal?? Read the RCOG report. Comparable to the best counties in the world. Only country in the world to have done the audit which led to all this. People upset they weren’t informed....fine but the fall out from it was disproportionate. The political hay making was nothing short of disgusting. And of course it leads to an absence of focus on those who don’t have a voice - the most vulnerable in society.

People don’t pay out of their wages. Some people pay out of their wages. People demand medical cards based on anything but income, but mainly their needs above others - so much so 41% of pop have a medical card - not exactly the poorest, ~40% have some form of insurance. Money for consultants.


Why would a consultant who gets paid publicly and privately be incentivised to improve the public system?


You’re correct about the trolley issue. Absence of capital investment years ago in both infrastructure and in providing care for those who need it most. This is the consequence and it’s more expensive to deal with it now that it was then. Old people are on trolleys, they need low tech, high staffing care. But we do not fund the health service to match the population increase of those patients who use our inpatient and outpatient service. Of course you could argue that it was that same generation who didn’t invest more earlier and who have left us in this situation. We spend money on treatments that have questionable outcomes. Improvements in life expectancy for example has less to do with health care that you might think. And we waste organisational effort on single issue advocacy groups and protectionist professions. New flash - not all doctors and nurses are heroes!!!

Yet despite it we have excellent health outcomes. There are certainly areas where we need to be better - I’m sure you can highlight them. COPD for one. But you don’t hear about them - you only hear of CF. Because they have better advocacy.

Whatever you think - constant criticism about our health service and the people who work in it (inc the managers that I’m sure someone will give out about) does not help anyone and does not improve anything.

The system is not broken. It’s needs constant improvement.