No health insurance. How.....

enfant terrible

enfant terrible wrote: »

Couldn't you just pay for all those test privately if you ever did need them?

Rather than paying a couple of grand for health insurance every year.

Yes you could, but if you develop a long term illness, it would not be a good plan

enfant terrible

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes you could

But after the scan you are put on the public waiting list and will be waiting longer for surgery?

enfant terrible

enfant terrible wrote: »

But after the scan you are put on the public waiting list and will be waiting longer for surgery?

You can pay for most things privately if you don't have insurance. It just doesn't make sense if you are looking at doing this long term

Yes, if you are doing the surgery publicly, you will generally have to wait longer than if you were doing the surgery privately

enfant terrible

Deleted User wrote: »

Yes you could, but if you develop a long term illness, it would not be a good plan

Say you get cancer with no insurance, are you on your own regards ongoing costs or does the public system support you?

enfant terrible

enfant terrible wrote: »

Say you get cancer with no insurance, are you on your own regards ongoing costs or does the public system support you?

The public system supports you

Geuze

shugy wrote: »

What about MRI/ct scans etc....

Taxpayer financed, like all hosp services.

Geuze

enfant terrible wrote: »

So if you have a very expensive health plan will you jump above someone on the public system if you need a heart transplant?

Yes. Sure that is the main reason people buy health insurance.

Why else would you buy it?


Now, please note some specialities might only be done in public hosps.

Indeed, heart transplants might be one of those.

enfant terrible

Deleted User wrote: »

The public system supports you

Why is it a bad plan then?

Would paying for income protection insurance not be a better use of your money rather than health insurance?

Considering the public system will support you if you get a serious illness.

Geuze

enfant terrible wrote: »

Say you get cancer with no insurance, are you on your own regards ongoing costs or does the public system support you?

You go to GP, you pay 50.

They refer you to hosp.

Hosp = no fee, taxes pay for it.

They send you for a scan, again, no fee, taxes pay for it.

You need surgery, etc. in hosp. Fee = 75 pn, no fee if day treatment.

But, you may have to wait for the initial consultation, and then wait for treatments.

Ins gets you treated faster, not better.

Geuze

enfant terrible wrote: »

Why is it a bad plan then?

Would paying for income protection insurance not be a better use of your money rather than health insurance?

Considering the public system will support you if you get a serious illness.

40% of the pop buy HI, mainly based on fear.

enfant terrible

Geuze wrote: »

You go to GP, you pay 50.

They refer you to hosp.

Hosp = no fee, taxes pay for it.

They send you for a scan, again, no fee, taxes pay for it.

You need surgery, etc. in hosp. Fee = 75 pn, no fee if day treatment.

But, you may have to wait for the initial consultation, and then wait for treatments.

Ins gets you treated faster, not better.

and you can pay for the scan yourself too to speed things up, these are usually a couple hundred euro?

quadrifoglio verde

enfant terrible wrote: »

and you can pay for the scan yourself too to speed things up, these are usually a couple hundred euro?

Yep
http://www.alliancemedical.ie/scan-centres/book-a-scan-in-dublin/

Geuze

Geuze wrote: »

40% of the pop buy HI, mainly based on fear.

Complete bullsh!t
I don't buy mine yearly out of fear
I use it constantly throughout the year, constant refunds coming back into my account
Quick Medical advice always just a phonecall away, and quick advice on where to go, and what specialist to see
I know in my hour of need that I will want to be insured, but it is a luxury I pay for
Also, a lot of companies pay towards their employees insurance, or provide certain levels for free. Why not!!!!! Fear, ha!!!!

enfant terrible

Deleted User wrote: »

Complete bullsh!t
I don't buy mine yearly out of fear
I use it constantly throughout the year, constant refunds coming back into my account
Quick Medical advice always just a phonecall away, and quick advice on where to go, and what specialist to see
I know in my hour of need that I will want to be insured, but it is a luxury I pay for

How much would you say you've paid in health insurance in your lifetime?

enfant terrible

enfant terrible wrote: »

How much would you say you've paid in health insurance in your lifetime?

I only started 3 years ago
My employer is very generous
So I have probably claimed back near enough to my share of it

quadrifoglio verde

Here is a very good article in the Irish times from 2 years ago. Bare in mind that the price of the policies quoted are now higher

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/would-people-be-better-off-without-health-insurance-1.1678200


From looking at a lot of policies over the years, unless you flash the cash for the top notch policy, you pay an extortionate amount for the peace of mind

nhunter100

enfant terrible wrote:

So if you have a very expensive health plan will you jump above someone on the public system if you need a heart transplant?

No, heart transplant is by need and patient match not by wallet. At least not in Ireland yet.

nhunter100

nhunter100 wrote: »

No, heart transplant is by need and patient match not by wallet. At least not in Ireland yet.

It's not a case of skipping the queue, they are different queues, public and private
Instead of waiting for a knee operation in a public hospital for years, you could get it done in a few weeks in a private hospital, possibly by the same dr who works in both public and private hospitals. But you are not skipping anyone on the public list

Sorry, quoted wrong post 😀

Ronin247

nhunter100 wrote: »

No, heart transplant is by need and patient match not by wallet. At least not in Ireland yet.

That's what you think...... Watch the movie John Q. This is the way we are heading

Ronin247

Ronin247 wrote: »

That's what you think...... Watch the movie John Q. This is the way we are heading

What makes you say this is the way we are heading, in Ireland. Please elaborate

nhunter100

Ronin247 wrote:

That's what you think...... Watch the movie John Q. This is the way we are heading

Hence I used the term 'not yet'.

Del2005

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Well in your original post you hypothetically told the hospital you have insurance. If you come in as an emergency, unable to talk they are obviously not going to send you to the private room if they are unable to confirm insurance cover, so you would be treated as a public patient. They will try to ascertain cover though

Plenty of emergencies where you can still talk and say that you have insurance. What happens then?

Mrs OBumble

bee06 wrote: »

Waiting periods are applied to prevent people from getting sick and then taking out health insurance as a result. You will still be covered for new conditions after you take out the cover.

and

Deleted User wrote: »

Normally you would contact your insurance company before being admitted, and they will confirm cover,

But as I recently discovered, it's a bit more complicated than this.

During the waiting period, if you contact the health-insurance company and say "I have developed X since I took out my policy, and the doctor says I need a Y", they say "You are still in the waiting period, therefore we will not decide if your procedure is covered or not until after the procedure: we cannot know if it was pre-existing or not until then".

Effectively they will not pre-authorise the procedure. So you have to take the risk of facing a very big bill if they choose to decline the claim - or just going through the public health system and paying the low level of charges mentioned before (75 per night up to a max of 300 - I think I saw a sign a few days ago saying it's now 80 per night).

Now, for the results of an accident, you can probably take a bet that they will cover it: your leg clearly wasn't broken before you took out the insurance. But for other things, especially if you're getting a bit more middle-aged, there's far more chance that they have been around for a fair while before the symptoms showed.

Del2005 wrote: »

In an emergency situation you won't have time and they ask on admission.

and

Del2005 wrote: »

How would this work if you end up in hospital and say that you have health insurance and get the huge insurance bill then the insurance company says you are not covered, does the bill drop back to the public bill or are you stuck with the huge bill?

You don't tell them that you have private insurance, so they treat you like a public patient.

enfant terrible wrote: »

and you can pay for the scan yourself too to speed things up, these are usually a couple hundred euro?

Yes. And this can be a good way to get peace of mind: a couple of hundred euro for a test, and as much again for the consultants appointment to interpret them.

Although it can get tricky if you then need treatment: having results from the private system may or may not allow you to bypass waiting to get the results from the public system. The public system consultant may want to get you scanned or whatever again in the public system (free to you) rather than to rely on the results of the private sector scan.

Geuze

It's 75 pn in a public hosp, up to a max of ten nights = 750.

Marcusm

shugy wrote: »

I don't understand the 5 yr waiting list. This sounds ridiculous to me! Why pay for five years if not covered.

The deferred cover only applies to pre existing conditions. Insurance is to cover you for the unexpected not the pre existing.

LostArt

Geuze wrote: »

It's 75 pn in a public hosp, up to a max of ten nights = 750.

It was sneakily changed to €80 and €800 recently.

gezz36

shugy wrote: »

Have had a medical card for 15 years and just recently i started a new business and now earning an average wage just before the medical card runs out. Come March, I won't be entitled to a medical card because of my earnings. Now I'll need health insurance which I was going to sort but know nothing about it. Who's best to deal with and is it the same as any other insurance where its monthly payments etc....

One thing that's been worrying me! I've had blood tests these last few years and its keep coming back my liver isn't to healthy. My blood tests keep coming back its overworked(forget the exact term doctor used) but now tge doctor is looking at maybe getting an MRI scan if these last tests come back same in case its something worse.

Will this effect me going for insurance. Does the insurance company ask for my records before they accept any customers.

I'm worried in case I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place as in, no medical card and unable to get insurance or even massive insurance costs became I might have a potential sickness.

If you take up employment after recieving Jobseekers Allowance you are allowed retain your medical card for 3 years. Have you looked into this? It should be open to self employed as well. Check out the HSE guidelines on retaining medical card if you were on Jobseekers prior to starting your business!!

NUTLEY BOY

Two brief observations.

The increased public hospital charge mentioned by LostArt seems to be effective from 1 January 2017.

When buying health insurance beware of the lure of large excesses in exchange for what looks like good cover at a good price. Large excesses often mean that you are really paying twice if you have a claim....

jimmycrackcorm

Marcusm wrote:

The deferred cover only applies to pre existing conditions. Insurance is to cover you for the unexpected not the pre existing.

Many people aren't aware that you can ask to take out a policy based on subscriptions offered to corporate clients.

Apart from largely being cheaper due to group discounts and reduced excesses, one of the little known aspects is that for some of these, the waiting period is exempt.

cdragin

Does anyone know if the pre-existing conditions clause still kicks in if you have had insurance elsewhere? I live in the U.S. but my husband and I are considering moving to Ireland. We are both covered by insurance here. In the U.S., as long as you have continuous coverage, you can switch policies without worrying about pre-existing conditions. The idea being that you aren't just buying insurance because you suddenly need it, as several people have pointed out.

I pay $570/month for insurance now, and thousands of dollars out of pocket every year, plus paying 100% for dental and optical, so the cost of insurance in Ireland seems like a bargain to me!