Health Insurance

12-02-2018 11:39AM

I have it through work. Still pay BIK on it of course but it’s a good plan. Used it a few times for gp visits etc. Also used it for a procedure which still took 3 months to wait for (a family member had the same done publicly and took them 1 month to wait). Wasn’t exactly serious but I could have just gone publicly as I still had to pay a good chunk of consultant fees.

I don’t know if I would have it if work didn’t pay for it. Never had it growing up and was fine. But as others have said you don’t appreciate it until you really need it.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 12-02-2018 11:42AM

I've always had it and have only ever had small claims for Mrs S on a few occasions.
I haven't used it at all but wouldn't be without it now that we're getting older.

jester77 · 12-02-2018 11:50AM

It's mandatory where I live, I pay around €550 a month now just for myself and have to cover the first €600 of medical costs before I can make a claim. Kids are around €200 each on top of that. Prices have rocketed the last few years, although this year was not too bad, just went up €20 a month. Last year it went up €90 a month. It better pay off later in life if I ever need it.

12-02-2018 11:52AM

jester77 wrote: »

It's mandatory where I live, I pay around €550 a month now just for myself and have to cover the first €600 of medical costs before I can make a claim. Kids are around €200 each on top of that. Prices have rocketed the last few years, although this year was not too bad, just went up €20 a month. Last year it went up €90 a month. It better pay off later in life if I ever need it.

What happens to the low-income worker or the unemployed where you reside do they still have to pay the same health insurance.

jester77 · 12-02-2018 12:49PM

mariaalice wrote: »

What happens to the low-income worker or the unemployed where you reside do they still have to pay the same health insurance.

They pay into the public insurance at roughly 15% of their salary. If you are employed, then the employer covers half of it, otherwise you pay full. If unemployed and receiving welfare the government will pay your contribution in most cases.

Geuze · 12-02-2018 01:23PM

mariaalice wrote: »

What happens to the low-income worker or the unemployed where you reside do they still have to pay the same health insurance.

If you lose your job in Germany, your health insurance does not change.

You and your former employer no longer pay the premium, the State does instead.

Geuze · 12-02-2018 01:25PM

jester77 wrote: »

It's mandatory where I live, I pay around €550 a month now just for myself and have to cover the first €600 of medical costs before I can make a claim. Kids are around €200 each on top of that. Prices have rocketed the last few years, although this year was not too bad, just went up €20 a month. Last year it went up €90 a month. It better pay off later in life if I ever need it.

From what you describe, you have private HI in Germany, not the public scheme.

seamus · 12-02-2018 01:58PM

Yep. When my wife was expecting my first child, my Dad asked if I had health insurance, and he said, "Whatever you have to give up, make sure you keep the insurance. Roof over your head, food on the table, and health insurance. Everything else is a luxury.".

And he was dead right. We haven't needed to use it for anything serious, but just having the option there, and having the ability to go the private route when possible is very comforting.

My Dad has had to have several major surgeries and interventions over the last decade, all of which took place in private hospitals and with the utmost of care. I'm 100% sure that had he been without insurance I'd have buried him years ago. So the benefit of health insurance for ourselves, not just the kids, cannot be understated.

I'd much rather we lived in a pure single-payer country and nobody needed health insurance. Ideologically that someone's survival depends on their ability to pay for healthcare makes me sad. But you can't survive on your ideologies, and I can't make the public system better. And so I still pay my health insurance.

jester77 · 12-02-2018 04:05PM

Geuze wrote: »

From what you describe, you have private HI in Germany, not the public scheme.

yip, private is much cheaper than public for me

andekwarhola · 12-02-2018 04:10PM

Work pay for me and my family. If they didn't, we'd pay for it ourselves.

People saying that any kind of insurance is a waste of money if they don't end up needing to claim is kinda missing the point of insurance.

Permabear · 12-02-2018 04:17PM

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Cina · 12-02-2018 04:21PM

Had it practically my whole working career up until last year when my new job didn't offer it in the package by default. Thought to myself "I'm 28, I'm healthy, never had an issue before, f*ck it, I'll be fine without paying the €70+ a month".

Ended up tearing my ACL playing football a few months later and so far have spent €6,500+ on surgery, consults, physio and everything (with 20% back on tax).

So, yeah, basically don't be an idiot like me. If you can afford it, get it.

Cina · 12-02-2018 04:23PM

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

The state of the public health system in Ireland pales in comparison to that of the U.S. Your health plans are also obscenely more expensive than here! It's not at all comparable. I agree that it's obviously the right thing to get health insurance for your children here still but using the US as an example makes no real sense to me!

Permabear · 12-02-2018 04:38PM

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Beasty · 12-02-2018 05:39PM

4 back operations with another 4 back procedures, 3 sinus operations, a face reconstruction, a separate facelift/plastic surgery, a few more broken bones, shoulder surgery, knee surgery, and probably a dozen or more MRIs and numerous other scans and X-rays - still reckon across the family my employer has put more into the insurance than we've got out of it

The good news is the couple of billion we all pay (or have paid) in subs pays a large chunk of consultants fees which discourages them from going elsewhere on qualification

LirW · 12-02-2018 06:08PM

Out of interest, what plans are people getting, especially the ones that have it tight? Do you keep the plan very basic or are you having a few premiums?
Also are there huge rises in the premiums?
Really interested because I made such bad experience on a basic plan.

r93kaey5p2izun · 12-02-2018 06:19PM

I have health insurance. A wealthy great aunt paid for it when I was a child so I always had it when nobody else in my family did. I kept it up myself as an adult but had to reduce to a much poorer policy as I just couldn't afford it. I've spent a fair bit of time in hospital and have experienced public wards, private in a couple of public hospitals and private in a couple of private hospitals. I would never again allow myself to be admitted to a fully private hospital that's not colocated with a proper major hospital like the Mater or St Vincents. Unfortunately I can't afford insurance that covers the Mater Private but I will choose public hospitals over the likes of the Hermitage, Blackrock Clinic and Bon Secours for serious illness any day. My current policy offers good hospital cover other than the Mater Private and Blackrock Clinic. I wouldn't feel comfortable without that. It has also covered any scans I've needed at scan centres with no wait.

I pay the same for two pets as I do for myself but the standard of care they receive is far superior. There have been many times when I have wished I could just be seen by the vet.

Kiith · 12-02-2018 06:25PM

Got it two years ago when i got married. I've been pretty blessed with good health, but my wife has had some trouble. It's around €200 a month, which we could definitely use, but the potential savings (both financially and actual life saving) far outweigh that cost.

Gael23 · 12-02-2018 09:31PM

seamus wrote: »

Yep. When my wife was expecting my first child, my Dad asked if I had health insurance, and he said, "Whatever you have to give up, make sure you keep the insurance. Roof over your head, food on the table, and health insurance. Everything else is a luxury.".

Thats my approach as well. I might not have the best cover out there but once I've covered my big bills and food, my health insurance is next. Even if you go into a public hospital you are treated differently,you get admitted rather than sent home with an outpatient appointment to start and if you need something done it will be done by a fully qualified consultant.
A girl I know without it had a baby a while back. She had serious complications in labour and only when it became a life threatening situation for her and her baby was a consultant called. If she was private she would have been dealing with a consultant all along

LirW · 12-02-2018 09:44PM

Gael23 wrote: »

A girl I know without it had a baby a while back. She had serious complications in labour and only when it became a life threatening situation for her and her baby was a consultant called. If she was private she would have been dealing with a consultant all along

Afaik Private health insurance covers the room but not always the consultant and if only with the better insurance plans. In a lot of cases the consultant has to be paid from the patients.

somesoldiers · 12-02-2018 09:58PM

LirW wrote: »

Afaik Private health insurance covers the room but not always the consultant and if only with the better insurance plans. In a lot of cases the consultant has to be paid from the patients.

Yip about 5k to go private on top as far as I recall

Greyfox · 13-02-2018 12:45AM

No health insurance, it's a luxury I simply can't afford. Its been about 10 years since I was last in hospital so needing it is not on my radar. I do realise something terrible could happen to me this year and id be fooked, sadly it's going to take something happening to me to make me reconsider.

13-02-2018 03:50AM

LirW wrote: »

Afaik Private health insurance covers the room but not always the consultant and if only with the better insurance plans. In a lot of cases the consultant has to be paid from the patients.

Mine covers €865 towards consulant fees. So it’s something. Still wouldn’t go private though. Seems like a waste of money just to see the same consultant and have a private room. Anyone I’ve spoken to (in Cork anyway) that has gone public says they had great care and wouldn’t pay for going private. Although I do know some people that went private as they were worried about things going wrong and wanted the extra peace of mind.

Gael23 · 13-02-2018 09:21AM

Greyfox wrote: »

No health insurance, it's a luxury I simply can't afford. Its been about 10 years since I was last in hospital so needing it is not on my radar. I do realise something terrible could happen to me this year and id be fooked, sadly it's going to take something happening to me to make me reconsider.

I don’t see it as a luxury, it’s next to food for me, that one thing I will always do without something to pay for. But then I have experience of the public system and how people are treated without are treated it so I suppose I see it differently.

Mossy Monk · 13-02-2018 10:26AM

I don't have health insurance. It's impossible to have when going through college. I am also past the cut off so I get increased premiums due to my age. It is the public health service for me until I finish college.

rainbow kirby · 13-02-2018 10:34AM

I'm in the UK - I have health insurance through work but have only used it once in the almost 5 years I've had it. No maternity cover though on that policy so I've gone public on the NHS for my 2 kids and have been well looked after both times, whether it was the easy birth or the 9 day stay in hospital.

If I was to move back to Ireland I would be making bloody sure we had a good family policy. The waits for treatment for children on the public system are disgraceful.

New Home · 14-02-2018 11:49AM

Does anyone know if palliative care is covered by HI, and would it be much different from what you'd get with the public health system?

seamus · 14-02-2018 12:35PM

As far as I can tell there are no palliative care services being covered by any of the health insurers. That's not to say that they don't, it just doesn't seem to be listed.

There is private palliative care available, and I wonder if this is something that gets covered by life assurance moreso than health insurance.

That said, I've never heard any complaints about the palliative care provided on the public system. It can to a certain extent be hard to get someone admitted to it if they don't have cancer or MND, but otherwise I've never heard anyone say that terminally ill people receive substandard palliative care.

New Home · 14-02-2018 12:38PM

Thanks for that Seamus.

Agricola · 14-02-2018 12:44PM

I've used it a couple of times for minor operations. I've had to reduce it down to a basic starter policy for myself now as it's just ridiculous, have often thought of getting rid but keep it up as long as it's just about manageable.

My father is on a decent policy for years which he has gotten some use out of. Most recently it was a bowl cancer scare. The cover allowed him to go to a private clinic and be seen in no time. The final bill to the insurance company was big, so the end result of him getting the all clear and not having to pay out for the treatment was great. He wouldn't be without it, and shouldn't be really at his age.

Health Insurance

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