Health insurance/private healthcare and covid 19

FloatingVoter wrote: »

Mine saw me in her public office in SJH last week (at her own request). She was seeing others as well. Mainly to cancel routine tests and renew prescriptions. She was obviously knee deep in the C19 problem and basically clearing her books. I got the high-risk letter there - I think that's why she was calling us in. I only saw the patient before me (elderly gent north of 70 needing assistance on his feet).
So yes, they are. And as I left James, a lady was hobbling out on crutches for a fag, reminding me that life and injury goes on despite this thing.
All the consultants and professors and wizards will be frontline but won't forget their own priorities.

In my example,I'd imagine she tops her field internationally but would be getting in the way of an experienced ICU nurse.

Great to know, thanks for the info

jcon1913 wrote: »

I’d expect a credit for the period where VHI and the rest of the private insurers did not have to pay out anything. The Government is paying the private sector to treat private patients I believe so why should people with private health insurance pay their premiums when the costs are all paid already?

There are other services, online gp and nurse line, walk in clinics, that people can still use so not all costs already paid. Would expect some credit though

Just an update, no problem getting an appointment and saw her yesterday. Hospital seemed busy enough with check ins and lots of theatre staff about the place. Paid the usual fee too.

hi all: in light of 3 month rebates, which apparently will apply to new customers, is now a good time to start a policy? i will be 35 in 10 months. thanks

It was announced a week ago that health insurance companies would be issuing rebates to their customers due to the fact that the Government has taken control of the private hospitals for the foreseeable future. Firstly, I am glad the private hospitals have been allocated to help during the pandemic as everybody should be treated equally.

I am not happy with the fact that my health insurer Irish Life have yet to issue a rebate or even tell me how much of a rebate I am even entitled to. It states on their website that they are issuing rebates of between 17% - 60% depending on what plan/level of cover you have. VHI have stated that all their customers will be getting an average of 50% back.

Irish life have stated the following on the q&a section of their website:

“ Why am I not getting my full month’s premium refunded to me?
There are different factors that make up your premium some of which will not change during this period:

1. The government health insurance levy is required by legislation to still be paid during this period. The cost of the levy for policies that renewed before April 1st is €444 for an advanced plan (with more than 66% access to any Private Cover) and €177 for a non-advanced plan (which provides for largely public hospital cover).

2. Health insurance customers will continue to be charged, (through their health insurer) for treatments for private care in public hospitals; psychiatric care - both inpatient and outpatient; maternity care and a range of other services. In addition, health insurance customers will pay the statutory public hospital charge if attending the 18 Private hospitals that are now part of this agreement.”


I rang Irish life today and they could not even tell me how much of a rebate I am entitled to or when to expect the rebate. I was informed by Irish life that they still have to pay the government levy and that I would still have access to public healthcare, digital doctor and some other useless fillers to make it seem like I am getting value for money! Surely the government should waive a percentage of the the €444 health insurance levy for as long as they have taken over the private hospitals?

Has anybody received a rebate from their health insurance company or has anybody received correspondence from their health insurance companies outlining how much of a rebate they will be getting? It seems like even 50% rebates are not enough as when you remove the access to private hospitals and the fact that all non emergency surgeries, day cases, scans etc are all cancelled, to keep paying even 50% of your normal policy does not seem value for money at all.

Spoke to a manager in Irish Life today on the phone. They said they do not know what % each plan is getting back yet (supposedly it’s between 17% to 60% depending on the plan you are on) and they do not know when customers will receive written confirmation and they have no date for when the rebates will issue. Basically they are not contacting customers to update them and have no figures or date as to when you will get your rebate but you are expected to keep paying your FULL policy while they take their time deciding on when to contact us. My parents also received their Irish life renewal in the post quoting the FULL policy amount for the year with no reductions or mention of a rebate :mad: They are just expecting people to hand over the money for the full years policy without even a mention of what’s going on! Anybody else having any luck getting confirmation/rebates from their health insurers?

Quackster wrote: »

First €65 monthly rebate from Laya landed into my account this morning. Happy days.

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.

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 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.

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?