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Medical Card/Health insurance

  • 18-04-2012 10:59am
    #1
    The Jammy dodger
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 658 ✭✭✭


    Should the the medical card be done away with? Should we follow the British and just give free healthcare for all? Discuss that one because I think we should.

    Should the medical card/Health insurance be done away with? 26 votes

    Yes
    0% 0 votes
    No
    46% 12 votes
    I dont know
    53% 14 votes


Comments

  • #2
    hondasam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 34,418 ✭✭✭✭hondasam


    I think we should have free medical treatment for children and oap's. The way it is now not everyone who has it needs it.


  • #3
    Princess Consuela Bananahammock
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 33,677 ✭✭✭✭Princess Consuela Bananahammock


    Lisa needs braces...??

    (sorry)

    Everything I don't like is either woke or fascist - possibly both - pick one.



  • #4
    AboutTwoFiddy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 216 ✭✭AboutTwoFiddy


    hondasam wrote: »
    I think we should have free medical treatment for children and oap's. The way it is now not everyone who has it needs it.

    Lots of OAP's are multi-millionaires and lots of children are from very wealthy families. So how is that fair?


  • #5
    The Jammy dodger
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 658 ✭✭✭The Jammy dodger


    AboutTwoFiddy wrote: »
    Lots of OAP's are multi-millionaires and lots of children are from very wealthy families. So how is that fair?

    It seems to work in britain though, wealthy or unwealthy and doesnt seem to damage their economy so why not have it here? :confused:


  • #6
    hondasam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 34,418 ✭✭✭✭hondasam


    AboutTwoFiddy wrote: »
    Lots of OAP's are multi-millionaires and lots of children are from very wealthy families. So how is that fair?

    They must have worked hard for their money. If they put revenue into the country they are entitled to get something back. I don't think many multi-millionaires are going public for health care tbh.
    I agree there should be a means test for everyone.


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  • #7
    ejmaztec
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,140 ✭✭✭✭ejmaztec


    AboutTwoFiddy wrote: »
    Lots of OAP's are multi-millionaires and lots of children are from very wealthy families. So how is that fair?

    Multi-millionaires and well-off people in general would probably go private whether there was a free health service or not (as they do in the UK), they wouldn't want to be mixing with the riff-raff.


  • #8
    AboutTwoFiddy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 216 ✭✭AboutTwoFiddy


    hondasam wrote: »
    They must have worked hard for their money. If they put revenue into the country they are entitled to get something back. I don't think many multi-millionaires are going public for health care tbh.
    I agree there should be a means test for everyone.

    Ah not all, there's a lot of old money floating about and a lot of the developers that went bust and are NAMA'd up their eyes transferred their wealth to their spouses so they still have money albeit undeservedly.

    I agree with means-testing, but I think that's the system we have now at the moment. Someone jokingly mentioned dental work, that's a huge thing for people on low income with a family. If you have problems with your teeth outside of the odd extraction/filling you're pretty much screwed in this country.


  • #9
    hondasam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 34,418 ✭✭✭✭hondasam


    AboutTwoFiddy wrote: »

    I agree with means-testing, but I think that's the system we have now at the moment. Someone jokingly mentioned dental work, that's a huge thing for people on low income with a family. If you have problems with your teeth outside of the odd extraction/filling you're pretty much screwed in this country.

    If you are unemployed here you get a medical card, I know it's harder to get them at the moment but just because you are not working should not entitle you to free healthcare.
    There are plenty of working parents who cannot afford to bring their kids to a doctor.


  • #10
    flyswatter
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,625 ✭✭✭flyswatter


    In England you can get an operation done and dusted within 30 minutes with their excellent system but do we even have a healthcare system as good to make this feasible?


  • #11
    themadchef
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,813 ✭✭✭themadchef


    ..and who's gonna pay for all this?

    d'fúck.

    We should all just get free evvverything, because we deserve it.

    Stop comparing us to the British. They get half the dole, half the childrens allowance and have to live with the accent.


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  • #12
    Frank Black
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,296 ✭✭✭Frank Black


    The Jammy dodger wrote: »
    Should we follow the British and just give free healthcare for all? Discuss that one because I think we should.


    Absolutly - it's not like we can't afford it or anything.


  • #13
    Sea Filly
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,213 ✭✭✭Sea Filly


    It should be A LOT cheaper but not free, no.

    From my time in the UK, yeah, it was great that the doctor's was free but the waiting lists from even getting an appointment with your GP were crazy. Charge a small fee, like a tenner or something to see the doctor, it's not a scary amount but it might dissuade people from turning up for stupid reasons like seems to happen in the UK.


  • #14
    hondasam
    Closed Accounts Posts: 34,418 ✭✭✭✭hondasam


    flyswatter wrote: »
    In England you can get an operation done and dusted within 30 minutes with their excellent system but do we even have a healthcare system as good to make this feasible?

    They do not have an excellent system, some of their hospitals are a disgrace. They have a waiting list same as here.


  • #15
    Sea Filly
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,213 ✭✭✭Sea Filly


    hondasam wrote: »
    They do not have an excellent system, some of their hospitals are a disgrace. They have a waiting list same as here.

    Agreed, the NHS is no better than the HSE from my experience. Massive waiting lists, suspect hospitals, all very similar really.


  • #16
    Annabella1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 647 ✭✭✭Annabella1


    The word 'free healthcare' is a misnomer.......nothing is free.Taxes will have to be increased to pay for this type of healthcare.I might attend my GP once or twice a year paying about Eur 100.Like most people,I look after my health.
    I suspect most people will pay more tax than what they are paying currently to their GP's.
    I have lived in the UK and experienced 2-3 day waiting lists to see a doctor in the NHS


  • #17
    seamus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    It's a chicken-and-egg issue. The reason people buy health insurance is because the public health service is muck. We already effectively have "free" healthcare for all, but no-one in their right mind would willingly choose to go the public route if the private route is a feasible option. If the public system was good, then fewer people would bother with private insurance.

    But unless one was to outlaw private health care, then private health insurance and private hospitals will always exist for people who don't want to use a public hospital.

    I would rather a situation where taxpayers are "forced" to take out private health insurance for themselves, rather than charging them more taxes to waste in a bloated and inefficient public health system. At least in the former case, there would be a tangible benefit to the taxpayer making the payment.


  • #18
    ash23
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,791 ✭✭✭ash23


    seamus wrote: »
    The reason people buy health insurance is because the public health service is muck. We already effectively have "free" healthcare for all, but no-one in their right mind would willingly choose to go the public route if the private route is a feasible option. If the public system was good, then fewer people would bother with private insurance.

    That's for sure.
    Myself and my sister both need an MRI. She was sent a letter back in January for an appointment in late October.
    I have health insurance via work. I was in for a consultation last week. My MRI is tomorrow. We are attending different hospitals but I don't think that's it.

    I used to think I didn't need health insurance because I have a medical card. And certaintly for regular GP visits, the health insurance isn't great.

    But if you develop a health issue then it makes a world of difference I think.


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