Health insurance/private healthcare and covid 19

This is it

I'm with Irish Life but a majority of it is paid by my company. I'm not sure what I'll get back from BIK and on the small percentage I pay.

Wondering about car insurance and motor tax too. Tax is up at the end of the month and I won't be paying it if I'm not driving the car, €750 for the year so I'll declare it off the road for a month or two I think.

2smiggy

skitzyspider wrote: »

I know Laya announced rebates of €195 (€65 a month for 3 months) but is this dependent on what plan you are on or does everybody get the same rebate?

Irish Life are showing their true colours at the moment and can’t even inform their customers how much they will be getting back and when they will getting the rebate. They state rebates are between 17% to 60% depending on the plan you are on but the way they are being so shady, I’d say we will be lucky to even get The lowest amount 17% back. Seriously considering leaving them and moving to Laya or VHI as soon as I’m due for renewal.

Laya private users all get the same, €65 a month for 3 months, per user. Better than nothing, but well less than what I pay per month.

My car tax is very high, as is my insurance, just a fast jap car. Would be as interested seeing a bit back from that

skitzyspider

Still no rebate from Irish Life. I haven’t even received any correspondence from them. I have rang a few times and they cannot even tell me how much of a rebate I will be getting and they refuse to give even a rough time frame as to when they will be contacting customers. Spoke to a few other people with Irish life and they are having the same experience. Irish Life will lose a lot of customers over this, myself included. Everybody I’ve spoke to with Laya has received their rebate. Anybody with VHI have any luck?

Mebuntu

skitzyspider wrote: »

Anybody with VHI have any luck?

Not a squeak. This month's premium just debitted - no reduction/refund.

skitzyspider

Mebuntu wrote: »

Not a squeak. This month's premium just debitted - no reduction/refund.

Looks like Laya will be getting an influx of new customers next year! Irish Life and VHI are taking the piss. I’m still being direct debited the full amount every month too. It’s ridiculous, we are still paying full whack for a service that is non existent for the foreseeable future. If we missed a payment they wouldn’t be long about contacting us but it’s alright for them to keep taking our money for a service they are not providing.

snowgal

I got notice from VHI last month that there will be reduction the amount from the 15th May onwards. Of course mine just went out on Friday so Ive missed this months. But for the next 3 months I should see the reduction....In fairness, I do think they are very slow to introduce this. It should have been done in April.

looksee

I got an email from VHI last month which stated (among other stuff):

In recognition of this, Vhi will waive a percentage of your premium for a three month period, effective from the 15th of May onwards. This will range from 45% to 60% depending on your plan(s). Your direct debit will automatically reflect this change and we’ll send you a new interim payment schedule, so you don’t need to do anything. Please note, if the private hospital agreement is shortened or extended the waiver will be adjusted accordingly.

Also I have just renewed my car tax and you can't take your car off the road for less than 3 months.

This is it

looksee wrote: »

Also I have just renewed my car tax and you can't take your car off the road for less than 3 months.

Yep, I was hoping to take mine off for a month or two. Between that and the extra they charge for 3 or 6 month increments on tax, it's a pain in the arse.

mirrorwall14

Can anyone help on what exactly is happening with the private hospitals? I had surgery scheduled for the start of April. It had been a seven month wait privately for the first appointment. The public waiting list is over 2 years. I don’t know what I do. Do I sit tight? Or do I try and get my name onto the public list? It’s incredibly frustrating to have been so close and then for it to be taken out of my hands

VillageIdiot71

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Can anyone help on what exactly is happening with the private hospitals? I had surgery scheduled for the start of April. It had been a seven month wait privately for the first appointment. The public waiting list is over 2 years. I don’t know what I do. Do I sit tight? Or do I try and get my name onto the public list? It’s incredibly frustrating to have been so close and then for it to be taken out of my hands

Unfortunatel, it looks like Simon won't admit that the public system doesn't need the capacity, and wants to hold onto the space.

What that means for private work is anyone's guess.

https://extra.ie/2020/05/16/news/irish-news/private-hospitals-patient-numbers

Itssoeasy

Got a notification on a change to my policy for the next three months and it's a total of 157 Euro until September 1st. That's not bad honestly.

This is it

Got an email today from Irish Life but since it's through work there are no details on the amount

Deiselurker

The deal with the private hospitals has been a waste of money as there are plenty beds available in the public hospitals now. It's good that the admissions to hospitals were not as bad as feared but now this deal is leading to a backlog of work coming down the line as there is very little being done at the moment in both public and private hospitals . There's a lot of worried and unhappy people who have paid for their policies but cannot get procedures done and some are in a lot of pain.

Millem

I just checked my direct debits. My Vhi payment for June had been reduced by approximately 50-55% I think! I have good day to day on mine.
My Dad got a letter in the post his premium is getting reduced by 60%.
He is on one of those very outdated expensive plans that has terrible day to day on it.

My vhi dental insurance premium apparently is being reduced by 30% for the month of June (I pay in full so presume they will give me a cheque).
I received my renewal for my dental insurance, I am unsure if the premium includes a covid reduction!

skitzyspider

Still no rebates from Irish Life. I haven’t even received an email or letter telling me the amount I will receive back.

I was recently in a lot of pain due to an ongoing condition and rang to try and get an appointment with my consultant in the private hospital that I usually attend him at. I was told that due to the pandemic that he was not doing consultations unless it was deemed an emergency/absolutely necessary. I was told I would be triaged over the phone. Another consultant who works with my consultant rang me and deemed it was necessary that I been seen as I needed to be examined and have scans/tests done. The secretary then rang me and I was given an appointment straight away for the next day but I was informed that I would have to pay over the phone and I would have to pay an Emergency A&E fee of €150 (repeat consultations with my consultant are usually €100 and I am attending this consultant for over 2 years) even though I was not seeing my consultant in an A&E Department, I was seeing him by appointment the next day in his usual rooms where I always see him. I informed the secretary that it was unfair that I had to pay more to see my consultant because it was deemed a necessary appointment that could not be done over zoom/phone as it was necessary that I be examined and I was seeing my consultant in his usual rooms. I was not attending A&E so I should not be charged an A&E fee!!! I assume that they are charging private patients extra to put the private patients off attending the private hospital which is appalling. I made a complaint but I still had to pay the extra money as I was in a lot of pain and worried that if I didn’t attend it could be very dangerous for my health.

While I have no problem with the private hospitals being used publicly to help during the Pandemic, the private patients are getting treated like ****.
I have since found out that a family friend who was on a public waiting list for a very simple procedure that was not urgent and not causing any health problems and not causing any pain (a cosmetic procedure for a condition that was annoying but not painful and posed no risk to his health) was given an appointment in the same private hospital to have his procedure done as they are using the private hospital theatres to clear up the backlog on the public waiting lists.
While I have no problem with the private hospitals being used to help public patients who are in a lot of pain and waiting years for surgery or public patients waiting on urgent surgeries, I also know a lot of private patients who are also in a lot of pain and their surgeries were cancelled with no sign of them being rescheduled. I also know of a cancer patient who was receiving chemo in a private hospital and her chemo was cut short and her last few sessions cancelled due to the private hospitals being taken over by the government. That poor chemo patient ended up in a public A&E a few weeks later and has since found out that her cancer has spread since her chemo was cut short. I’m sure there are plenty of horror stories from both public and private patients. It is disgraceful that the private hospitals are being used for routine public procedures to clear backlogs when there are both public and private patients waiting on urgent surgeries and cancer treatments.

I am absolutely disgusted that I got charged extra to see my private consultant when I was triaged over the phone and deemed that it was necessary that I attend. Just before anybody asks why I did not go to a public A&E for free, my consultant only works privately in this particular private hospital and the local public hospital is not equipped to deal with my condition as they do not have the equipment for the scans and tests I need. I don’t want to go into details about my health condition but it causes me a lot of pain and if a flare up gets out of control without intervention, it could cause serious permanent damage. I have another consultant in another private hospital and I have been able to still get private appointments with him no problem, paying his standard private consultant fee but the other private hospital is taking the piss overcharging private patients.

Are there any other private patients having health troubles and unable to get appointments or being charged extra in the private hospitals even though the private hospitals are essentially public hospitals at the moment?

mirrorwall14

I had waited over six months to be seen privately for suspected endometriosis. Finally got seen in February. Due for surgery April 4th. Cancelled. I'm still in pain. And no idea what I'm supposed to do. Do I need to go on the public waiting lists? I'm told they are two years long, surely I will be able to have my surgery before then? I'm so frustrated and struggling with heavy pain meds every fortnight or so with two kids. Its mental and the lack of information is soul destroying.

Millem

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

I had waited over six months to be seen privately for suspected endometriosis. Finally got seen in February. Due for surgery April 4th. Cancelled. I'm still in pain. And no idea what I'm supposed to do. Do I need to go on the public waiting lists? I'm told they are two years long, surely I will be able to have my surgery before then? I'm so frustrated and struggling with heavy pain meds every fortnight or so with two kids. Its mental and the lack of information is soul destroying.

Mirrorwall that is awful, are there any consultants still operating privately? A family member needs to see a dermatologist and got an appointment privately. He didn’t have much choice but there are still a handful offering private appointments.

antodeco

This is it wrote: »

Yep, I was hoping to take mine off for a month or two. Between that and the extra they charge for 3 or 6 month increments on tax, it's a pain in the arse.

You can declare it off the road for 3 months, but then tax it a month later, so it was only off for 1 month if you want. There's a minimum 3 months on the system, but nothing stopping you going back in after a month or 2 again

mirrorwall14

Millem wrote: »

Mirrorwall that is awful, are there any consultants still operating privately? A family member needs to see a dermatologist and got an appointment privately. He didn’t have much choice but there are still a handful offering private appointments.

Consultations seem to be pretty ok, its the surgery thats the problem. I've got onto my local TD and he's contacting the health minister about it

Pang

I got a letter today about the rebate from Irish Life but it did not actually tell me what percentage I am getting back. Infuriating.

skitzyspider

Pang wrote: »

I got a letter today about the rebate from Irish Life but it did not actually tell me what percentage I am getting back. Infuriating.

I got a letter from Irish life yesterday too. Just the usual waffle from them and does not actually tell you how much of a rebate or what percentage you will be getting. They are also saying that we will only get a percentage back as ‘they’ have to still pay the government levy. In other words they kept charging us and we pay the government levy. I’m absolutely disgusted with them. Surely the government should not be charging the levy for the next few months since there is no private hospitals.

Blueshoe

With the government negotiating with the private hospitals to use their facilities including beds, operating rooms, test and scanning equipment for public patients the real losers in this are those who pay monthly for private care.

Waiting times will increase as public patients are sent through the system.

Yet privately insured people will still be expected to pay for the privilege. This will be the new normal going forward. Wait and see. This won't be temporary

Quackster

Blueshoe wrote: »

With the government negotiating with the private hospitals to use their facilities including beds, operating rooms, test and scanning equipment for public patients the real losers in this are those who pay monthly for private care.

Waiting times will increase as public patients are sent through the system.

Yet privately insured people will still be expected to pay for the privilege. This will be the new normal going forward. Wait and see. This won't be temporary

The HSE paid for some public patients' treatments in private facilities long before Covid came along as a way of managing waiting lists so there's nothing new there. Makes sense all round as it fills private hospitals' excess capacity.

The current arrangement ends on June 30th and the normal two-tier system resumes on July 1st.

Blueshoe

Quackster wrote: »

The HSE paid for some public patients' treatments in private facilities long before Covid came along as a way of managing waiting lists so there's nothing new there. Makes sense all round as it fills private hospitals' excess capacity.

The current arrangement ends on June 30th and the normal two-tier system resumes on July 1st.

That's true but that isn't the case here. Many more public patients will be sent towards private hospitals for treatment than previously. This isn't about overflow.
Public hospitals normally operate at 95% capacity. Hospital waiting rooms full of people. With Coronavirus this overcrowding can't be allowed to happen. Government are also going to use this opportunity to clear public waiting lists. They will be sent to the private hospitals.

This is a totally different deal that they are talking about. And the only losers will be those paying the monthly premium.

skitzyspider

Irish Life sent me a letter stating the first of 3 rebates would be credited to my bank account by the end of the first week of June. They didn’t say how much, they just say it would be credited to my account and that a letter stating the exact amount would follow. Well it’s the end of the first week of June and I have not received any rebate from Irish Life into my bank account and I have not received any follow up letter stating how much the rebate will actually be either! It’s getting ridiculous at this stage.

It seems to a big secret as to how much the rebates will actually be and the exact date they will magically appear in our bank accounts! Seriously considering leaving them.

Polar101

skitzyspider wrote: »

It seems to a big secret as to how much the rebates will actually be and the exact date they will magically appear in our bank accounts! Seriously considering leaving them.

If you check your documentation on the website, it should tell you how much the rebate is. At least they are telling me. Not exact dates though, just "within 5 working days".

snowgal

VHI finally cut my insurance today. This will probably be the only month I get after all that!

Icantthinkof1

I received confirmation from Irish Life via email on Saturday 6th June re: confirmation of my rebate amount- €87.15. I had to log onto the website to receive the rebate amount
It will be put back into my bank account over the next 5 working days

skitzyspider

Polar101 wrote: »

If you check your documentation on the website, it should tell you how much the rebate is. At least they are telling me. Not exact dates though, just "within 5 working days".

Thank you, still received no letter or email but I found the amount under documentation online. Looks like I’m getting €46.31. For reference I’m on an advanced plan with cover for a private room in private hospitals. Looks like Laya and VHI gave a lot more back to their customers!

Irish life keep bullsh*tting on that they still have to pay the government levy. Like seriously how is the government levy for private health/hospital still being charged when there is currently no/limited private healthcare.

r93kaey5p2izun

I have a private appointment on Friday but no idea if it will going ahead. No answer today so waiting on an email reply. Website has no info at all.

Laya have refunded me €65 twice now so far.