Private health insurance question

sunnymoon

Hi ladies,

I'm hoping to get some help from you,

I'm with aviva level 2 teachers and nurses, and I'm wondering what exactly is covered. I rang aviva and tbh the guy on the phone didn't seem to be able to explain it to me.

I'm hoping to go private in a public hospital, but just want to know the costs first,

I know the consultants fees are 2,400 will this be covered? Does this price cover scans?

My table of benefits are as follows

Public hospital cover for maternity 3 nights accommodation
Grant in aid amount covered up to 40000
In patient maternity consultancy fees -as per schedule of benefits for professional fees


I don't know will anyone be able to give me any information but I would really appreciate if you could, thank you in advance

mirrorwall14

sunnymoon wrote: »

Hi ladies,

I'm hoping to get some help from you,

I'm with aviva level 2 teachers and nurses, and I'm wondering what exactly is covered. I rang aviva and tbh the guy on the phone didn't seem to be able to explain it to me.

I'm hoping to go private in a public hospital, but just want to know the costs first,

I know the consultants fees are 2,400 will this be covered? Does this price cover scans?

My table of benefits are as follows

Public hospital cover for maternity 3 nights accommodation
Grant in aid amount covered up to 40000
In patient maternity consultancy fees -as per schedule of benefits for professional fees


I don't know will anyone be able to give me any information but I would really appreciate if you could, thank you in advance

I don't know the exact specs on your policy but asfaik pregnancy is not treated as an illness and you can expect to pay out between 5-6k from your own pocket (on top of health insurance) to go private in a public hospital

bovril

Ring Aviva however many times it takes for you to understand the policy. They are obliged to explain it all in terms you understand. I had to ring my health provider lots of times at the start with lots of questions.

bp

I am also aviva (a different level), but it looks similar. I get 3 nights in public hospital but going semi-private. The fee then is circa 1,200-1,500 for the Rotunda (depending on midwife or consultant led) or about 900 in holles street.

I think for private you pay the consultant fees as well as for bloods and scans, but you can check with the hospital

angeldelight

It depends on your consultant/hospital what is covered. Eg I'm attending The Coombe privately and my consultant is 3000. That includes all tests and scans etc. Some charge extra for the anomaly scan as far as I know. Very little of this is covered by my Aviva plan

The grant in aid of 4000 is only for home births

My policy doesn't pay for a private room in a public hospital, it only pays for semi private so I won't be having a private room, but I'm ok with that as my main reason for choosing private was to choose my consultant and have continuity of care/ get appointments that suit.

All other costs that may arise with delivery eg anaesthetist should I want an epidural are covered.

Ring Aviva back but have a list of specific questions to ask, they'll be able to answer them, and if they can't just ask to speak to someone else! Also the secretary of the doctor you want to attend will know what is included in their fee

angeldelight

Oh, and congratulations

Moonbeam

Usually they pay for your accommodation and you pay for the consultant and then you can claim a portion of it back.

lazygal

I wouldn't bother with semi private. Anyone I know who went for it said it was a waste of money.

I went fully private and we paid about €4 k in consultant fees and about €150 a pop for anomaly scans (we had two first time due to complications and one the second time). All other scans and some blood tests were free. It was money well spent. We claimed some back on the med1 and got some back from VHI. I think that depends on your policy. Insurance paid all accommodation costs and the section fees (I think this was about €10K in total each time with the nights in a private room etc).

I ended up needing a section first and second time and that was when the private room and care came into its own. My consultant was with me for everything and provided excellent postnatal care. I had to spend a night on a semi private ward and it wasn't a pleasant experience. If we do go again I will beg, borrow and steal the money if necessary.

Moonbeam

I have to say in Holles St Semi Private is worth the money but not as good as private or Midwife led.

tinkerbell

You need to ring up Aviva. However, the grant of €4,000 sounds like you would be eligible for a private room and this would be paid for by Aviva. However, you can only access a private room if you go fully private with a consultant, in which case you have to pay the consultant fees which are usually around €3-4k which may or may not include the big scans but you will get a mini scan at each visit which is done by your consultant). The big scans are 12 and 22 weeks. You will get a small contribution towards this from Aviva (other insurance companies pay €400 / €500) so just a small portion back. Your consultant fees go under the out patient maternity fee section.

If you go semi private, you will pay a smaller amount in consultant fees and then your hospital accom will be semi private.

If you go public, you will be in a public ward, even though your insurance covers you for a private room. the only way you will get bumped up is if public is full and they put you into semi-private then. So if a private room is important to you, you'll have to stump up the €3k or whatever it is your consultant charges.

polydactyl

I have almost identical aviva cover and I paid my consultant private fees and can claim 400 back at end of year and all my scans including anomaly were included in fee.

Most aviva plans cover semi private room in public hospital and in the inpatient section it states private room in public hospital at "semi private rates" meaning you pay the difference between private/ semi per night.

angeldelight

tinkerbell wrote: »

You need to ring up Aviva. However, the grant of €4,000 sounds like you would be eligible for a private room and this would be paid for by Aviva.

No, I have the same cover and I asked them - that was the amount they would have paid to a private hospital I.e. Mount Carmel but now that there are no longer any private maternity hospitals that amount is only paid for home births. My plan covers me for semi private room in a public hospital so if I wanted a private room I'd have to pay the difference between SP & private

sunnymoon

Thanks for all your replies,

We're still deciding, but now I'm wondering if the money is better spent towards taking unpaid leave at the end of maternity leave to spend more time with the baby.

The reasons I mainly wanted to go private was the extra scans, I'm in the west of Ireland, and our hosiptal dosent do a 20week analomy scan unless your high risk. Also to have continuity of care. The private room wouldn't be a priority for me at all.

Also I would ring the consultant I want but his secretary is my friends mum, and I know it's ment to be confidential but I know it sometimes isn't.

Typer Monkey

You can get a private anomaly scan and it'd work out far cheaper than paying in full for private care. The private room would tempt me but what private care costs would pay my mortgage for four months so I can take the full unpaid leave. I prioritise that. It depends on your finances really, can you afford to do both?

Ginny

I am the same as Typer. I've already had a baby through the public system, I had complications so would have ended up in the public clinics even if I paid private fees. In the end I had the same consultant see me from 37 weeks until he rushed me for an induction at 40 weeks. At that point there were no inductions for the next 4/5 days, but I was still bumped to the top due to the circumstances. I had a mini scan at every appointment and ended up with 2 anomaly scans. This time I'm public again, have had a scan at every appointment, and again will need a second anomaly scan.
Last time I took the full 16 weeks unpaid and I'll be doing the same again, to me the money was better spent covering the unpaid leave, if you can do both, great though.

bp

I couldn't justify private personally (but would have loved a private room). I am thinking of their college fund kinda girl, and just didn't have the cash! If I did I would have been tempted :-)

Moonbeam

If you are a semi private patient there is a chance of getting a private room if there is one available,the big difference between semi private and private is the consultants visits.

If you are public with the consultant it is not possible to get a private room.