The reason Health Insurance is a rip off

Jumboman

Just saw a private consultant last week he wanted me to have a few tests done I did not have Health Insurance so I asked him what it would cost to have the tests done, he told me he had no idea how much the tests would cost and that he normally just puts the cost of the tests "on to the Insurance"

It seems to me that hospitals will charge any amount of money for their services and just add it "on to the Insurance" their must be no other industry that does not have any control over its costs.

Another scam the Insurance compaines pull is that if you do end going into hospital they will only pay for a percentage of your hospital bill.

Jogathon

Well the hospitals might rip off the Vhi or whoever, but at least you don't get caught for the cost of tests and stays in hospital. I'm recovering from a knee operation, have had 3 mri's since January, am still getting free physio from the hospital, have met with the consultant 4 times and Vhi is paying for it all.

So....I disagree!

dotsman

Jumboman wrote: »

Just saw a private consultant last week he wanted me to have a few tests done I did not have Health Insurance so I asked him what it would cost to have the tests done, he told me he had no idea how much the tests would cost and that he normally just puts the cost of the tests "on to the Insurance"

It seems to me that hospitals will charge any amount of money for their services and just add it "on to the Insurance" their must be no other industry that does not have any control over its costs.

Yes, this is pretty much how the Health System is funded at the moment. Hospitals just keep jacking up the price for people who are insured, thus forcing the constant increase in premiums (dramatically increasing every year for a long time now). Any attempt by any of the past few ministers for health to reign in spending has been met with threats of strikes by "front-line workers". Ultimately, it will hit a stage where the entire Health system will collapse, as younger, healthier people will no longer pay for health insurance, leaving only the elderly and sick, who will no longer be able to afford the huge premiums.

Jumboman wrote: »

Another scam the Insurance compaines pull is that if you do end going into hospital they will only pay for a percentage of your hospital bill.

Not sure what the scam is here. Different type of health insurance plans pay for different things. The big difference between all the various plans (from the cheapest to the most expensive) are what percentage of hospital costs (public/private etc) the insured is covered for. Are you saying your insurance company is not refunding you for the amount specified in your plan?

Jumboman

dotsman wrote: »

Not sure what the scam is here. Different type of health insurance plans pay for different things.

My father is in the VHI he had to pay 1200euro for a life saving operation as the VHI would not cover the full cost of it.
He was lucky he could afford the 1200euro I think they expect that a lot of people wont be able to afford the extra cost therefore they wont get operations which the VHI is suppose to cover.

If health insurance wont cover the full cost of a life saving operation then their is something seriously wrong.

NuMarvel

Jumboman wrote: »

Just saw a private consultant last week he wanted me to have a few tests done I did not have Health Insurance so I asked him what it would cost to have the tests done, he told me he had no idea how much the tests would cost and that he normally just puts the cost of the tests "on to the Insurance"

It seems to me that hospitals will charge any amount of money for their services and just add it "on to the Insurance" their must be no other industry that does not have any control over its costs.

Another scam the Insurance compaines pull is that if you do end going into hospital they will only pay for a percentage of your hospital bill.

When an insurer is paying directly for a test or procedure, they'll have already agreed the price and terms before hand. They don't just pay whatever the hospital or doctor puts on the invoice.

They also regularly review claims patterns to see if any doctors are claiming significantly more often than their peers. I know of a least one consultant that was blacklisted by an insurer when it was found that they were claiming for procedures that they didn't carry out. And when Quinn took over BUPA, they started doing pre-payment spot checks with their customers to make sure that the claim details were correct (e.g.number of nights or type of accommodation).

There's always room for improvement, but it's definitely not a blank cheque scenario either.

cookie1977

You'd be surprised. When we were in for our first childs birth we were fully private but due to the hospital being busy we spent one night in public, one night in semi private before we spent 3 nights in fully private but our insurance company was billed for 5 nights fully private. Despite our protestations to our insurer we're still unsure if they paid our properly or paid out for 5 nights fully private. They didn't seem to care too much.