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Do you have health insurance?

Comic Book Guy

Hi All,

Like the thread says do you have health insurance?!

i don't but am slightly apprehensive that i actually should have. Don't get me wrong, I'm in good health (early 30s) and all that but most of my peers have insurance and i get quizzical looks when i tell them i don't.

Am i crazy not having it? What are the pro's and con's?

Many thanks in advance for your replies.

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barney 20v

Comic Book Guy wrote: »

Hi All,

Like the thread says do you have health insurance?!

i don't but am slightly apprehensive that i actually should have. Don't get me wrong, I'm in good health (early 30s) and all that but most of my peers have insurance and i get quizzical looks when i tell them i don't.

Am i crazy not having it? What are the pro's and con's?

Many thanks in advance for your replies.

Yep, but to be fair my employers cover the full cost for me and my family. Early 30s also op and its defo worth having.

Skid

If the Health Insurance prices increase much more (which they will) the only people who will retain it are the very wealthy and the very sick (and anyone whose employer pays for them).

The Private Health Industry will collapse in the next few years - the cost keeps going up while the benefits keep going down.

bleg

Yup, have had it all my life.

Corruptedmorals

Early 20's. I wouldn't be without it, it's already paid out a load of times for me. You won't get much more of a pros and cons list than cons: It's expensive and you might not ever utilise it. Pros: It's always there if you need it, will get you to a consultant and tests done within a week, as opposed to a year plus in the public system for simple things like ultrasounds etc. And of course, it's a good option to have for someone planning on getting pregnant because they have a lot of choices over what way they will go for their care.

roy rodgers

No don't have it and never did.
Broke my arm and needed an operation and it and was done straight away so don't see the point in health insurance.

bodhrandude

Do you not mean ETA insurance, insurance for the Basque Separatists.

Mr Benevolent

Yeah, it's only €80 per month. I have a chronic stomach problem, could be useful to the long run.

galwayrush

Can't afford it, don't always get paid for work. It would have been a great help when the wife got cancer, but nothing we could do.

anamara86

I have health insurance too - for me, it's for piece of mind should anything happen.

Wanderer2010

I didnt have it for years but after damaging my leg fairly bad a few years ago and forking out quite a lot on hospital visits etc I decided to have it as a back up in case the same should happen again. I did settle on VHI in the end but with the proposed increases in premiums this year Im doing some serious shopping around and maybe even change companies to get a cheaper deal. Im only after a basic plan, nothing too fancy, and that is better than nothing.

sxt

Comic Book Guy wrote: »

Hi All,

Like the thread says do you have health insurance?!

i don't but am slightly apprehensive that i actually should have. Don't get me wrong, I'm in good health (early 30s) and all that but most of my peers have insurance and i get quizzical looks when i tell them i don't.
.

You would have got quizzical looks if you said you weren't trying to get on the property ladder 4 or 5 years ago.. or if you weren't watching the x factor 3-4 years ago..Why does it matter to you what way people look at you? Your the boss

Czarcasm

I wouldn't be without it either. In the same way as it's reassuring to have it (well, mandatory!) if you drive, it's reassuring to have it so you're covered should you be unfortunate enough to ever need to avail of it!

Menas

Employer pays for mine and the wife and kids so I am lucky. But I would not be without it. It has saved us money and gotten us good fast care over the years.

Yes the public system will be fast in certain situations like a broken arm op....but for something life threatening I would not want to be at the mercy of a bankrupt health system.

MadYaker

I do but I don't think the insurance company know about half the sh!te I do be getting involved in.

BraziliaNZ

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but f*ck it I've got VHI

B Rabbit

Yep! Employer pays for it. Early 20s btw

hattoncracker

If I get my permanent contract, I'll get it through work..

If not, I'm thinking of getting it, but will habe to see how much my car insurance will have gone up because of the vaginal extra..

Czarcasm

hattoncracker wrote: »

If I get my permanent contract, I'll get it through work..

If not, I'm thinking of getting it, but will habe to see how much my car insurance will have gone up because of the vaginal extra..

Because of the what?? :pac:

StinkyMunkey

Im a family man, 2 kids and a wife, getting VHI was a no brainer for me.

Its the difference between going public or private.

Public is fine if you like long queues and have a high pain threshold.

Private/semi private wins hands down.

Went semi private with both kids, public is ok if you like the Zoo (these days anyway). That my experience in dublin anyway!

After a particular bad crash on the motorbike, it helped a great deal having VHI.

cosbloodymick

How do you manage to get your employer to buy you your health insurance?

Grayson

I'm in my 30's and I have it. But only since I started with my current employer 5 years ago. I've been hospitalised twice in the last 5 years and they're the only times I've been in hospital since I was a kid. The first time I ended up on a chest ward with a load of old guys. One screamed his way through the night, every night. After two days a private room became available and I was shunted off. For that alone I'm grateful I had insurance.

Besides that I've needed follow ups. Every year I go to a private hospital for a couple of procedures. The VHI only covers some of it but still saves me hundreds. I pay about €70 myself. Still it means no waiting.

Grayson

cosbloodymick wrote: »

How do you manage to get your employer to buy you your health insurance?

Part of the contract with mine. Most of the big multinationals have the option.

I know there was one guy who complained because it counts as benefit in kind and affected his PRSI. He did some maths (I don't know how accurate) and worked out that it was a few quid cheaper per year to buy it himself. He spend ages chasing after the company until eventually they removed him from the company health plan.

hattoncracker

Czarcasm wrote: »

Because of the what?? :pac:

My car insurance is going up because I have a vagina and the insurance companies decided that its much fairer to make me pay extra than to let men pay less because penises dont effect driving ability unless you are very well hung and get turned on by traffic lights.

keano_afc

Absolutely, I wouldnt be without it. I pay it through work out of my salary. I had bad hip pain 3 months ago so my doctor sent me to get it looked at and because I had health insurance he sent me private. Here I am after being operated on and I feel great. I got an MRI in a week after my first consultation and 2 weeks after seeing my consultant was going under the knife. A friend of mine who doesnt have insurance needs an MRI on his shoulder and when he went to see his GP in November last year was told he would get his MRI in August 2013 at the earliest. I dread to think how long it would have taken for my operation if I didnt have insurance.

cosbloodymick

Grayson wrote: »

Part of the contract with mine. Most of the big multinationals have the option.

I know there was one guy who complained because it counts as benefit in kind and affected his PRSI. He did some maths (I don't know how accurate) and worked out that it was a few quid cheaper per year to buy it himself. He spend ages chasing after the company until eventually they removed him from the company health plan.

Is it always taxed as BIK? And what rate is BIK?, the same rate as income tax?

thenightrider

NO i don't have it and I am very sick i just cant afford it.

Max Power

Yes I do, it gives me piece of mind.

Was talking a female friend the other day and she was telling me her friend had a baby last year but didn't have HI. She had to wait 9 months to have it. Shocking!

LoonyLovegood

Don't have it. Can't afford it anyway, I went shopping around, it's too expensive. I'm already heavily entangled in the public system anyway, so there I will stay

x43r0

Yep, employer covers it. Dental plan too

.......Lisa needs braces

anniehoo

No dont have it, i just couldnt stretch to another bill for €80+/mth without totally becoming a hermit to pay all my bills.