Going private without health insurance - bad idea?

deex

Hi all

I'm newly pregnant with my first baby (6 weeks) and trying to choose my maternity healthcare plan. I haven't a clue what I'm doing really so any advice would be brilliant

My partner and I were looking into going privately for this pregnancy as I am very nervous and would really appreciate the extra visits and getting to see the same consultant every time.

We started researching private consultant fees and the average seems to be about €3,000 - €4,500 which is within our budget financially and we are happy to pay.

However, I just realised today that this does NOT include the price of the actual hospital stay during birth!

From my research, I think most women who go private have heath insurance, and their health insurance covers most (if not all?) of their hospital stay during birth.

I don't have health insurance unfortunately My partner does but I'm guessing that's useless.

So we'd have to pay for the hospital stay ourselves, but the scary thing is that it seems like the final fee can vary HUGELY depending on how complicated your birth is and how long you have to stay... I've seen anything from 3k to 11k??? Which I don't think we could handle financially.

So, in order to get the birth paid for, am I right in saying I'd have to go public?

I love the idea of the private consultant and am able to pay for the cost, but I don't think I could financially handle paying for the birth myself.

Is my only option to stick with public, or is there any route where I could pay extra for more appointments/scans/same consultant but have the birth itself be public?

Sorry for the essay! Any help would be really, really appreciated, you have no idea! Thank you so much for reading.

lazygal

I had c sections for every delivery.
Five nights in hospital and the cost of the sections and some other complications would have run to about 10k each time.
I think you'd be crazy to go private without insurance and in fact the hospital might not let you as they can't be as sure you'll pay as they are the insurance company will.
Where are you living? Dublin hospitals all do proper scans, anatomy scans etc as part of public care. You can pay for private tests like harmony and more complex scans yourself.

shreko

I don’t really think there is any way around this. If you choose to go private you will get a bill at the end.
5 nights in a public ward room will cost you around 3-4 K and 5 nights in a private room is 5k.
So if you end up with a section you could’ve looking at 7K + once you’ve factored in anaesthetist and surgery costs.
Including the 3-4K you have to pay the gynae it would be working out very expensive.

That’s if it’s even possible, it’s not in limerick. When you call your gynae to book in they look for your health insurance details and if you don’t have it they won’t take you on as a patient.

Snotty

Is there any medical issues or history of issues that might arise? If not then there is very little benefit to going private and its just unneeded stress about money when there are more important things to deal with.

GingerLily

When public patients run into pregnancy issues they tend to get excellent care, I was semi private but was moved to a specialist clinc due to complications, and that's essentially public now. My consultant originally was meant to be the specialist for twins, but I didn't have twins so it wasn't necessarily that beneficial for me.

I don't think it's worth the financial risk

fits

You could pay for extra scans if that would give you peace of mind. The women’s health clinic in kilkenny do them. Scans operated by a midwife.

shesty

DeeX on baby number 1, I was 5 nights in the Rotunda - she had a night in NICU.She needed antibiotics administered. I was semi-private and my insurance bill was sent to me to check - 3k a night for the bed plus sundry other bills for bloods/consultants and the like. Honestly unless you have about 20k to spare, in addition to the 3-4k for the private bill, I wouldn't do it without insurance. There is absolutely nothing wrong with public care. The only thing you are paying for in private care is to see the same consultant throughout the pregnancy, and then a private bed in afterwards. You actually give birth in the same rooms, with the same staff in attendance as every other woman does (your consultant will be around for some of the birth).


You can pay extra for private scans if you feel you need them, although there is a school of thought that it isn't great for babies or a pregnancy to be constantly scanned in the womb. (I am not going to dispute how wrong or right that is, just that it is an idea that is out there).

deex

Thank you so much everyone!!

You are so right, I agree with everything you said.
Really appreciate you guys talking sense into me - dunno what I was thinking!!

Going to register public later on today.
Thank you again!!!

lazygal

Best of luck!

shreko

Best of luck and hope you have a lovely pregnancy.
So exciting having your first baby XX

tHE vAGGABOND

We were fully private for number 1 five years ago. I had fancy health insurance with my job at the time. But after he was born Mrs Vagga went into a semi-private room, as there was no room spare. Our "dedicated" consultant was off playing golf, never saw him during our entire stay [on a note, of 3 of my mates who went private for their first kid, NONE of them saw their consultant during the birth process!!!]

One of the biggest plus points was that as a private patient the appointments are quick and on time, rather than waiting for hours in a queue. But Covid knocks that on the head.

Baby two due for us in a few weeks, and we have gone public. My only fear is that post-birth wife and child will be in a room with 10 to 12 other mums and babies, and thus get zero sleep and be disturbed 24/7 & with COVID, I fear those 10-12 mums and folks visiting them and the germs in these crazy times [ I'm a snob] - but we have weighed it up and kept with the public care.

But at end of the day, Public, Semi-Private or Private if your in the birthing suite and something goes wrong, you are getting the A-Team in to help. That is really what counts.

jlm29

tHE vAGGABOND wrote: »

My only fear is that post-birth wife and child will be in a room with 10 to 12 other mums and babies, and thus get zero sleep and be disturbed 24/7 & with COVID, I fear those 10-12 mums and folks visiting them and the germs in these crazy times [ I'm a snob] - but we have weighed it up and kept with the public care.

There’s very very little visiting allowed currently (probably none at all in maternity hospitals, I’d say, but I stand to be corrected on that) in all public hospitals, maternity included, so mrs V might be glad of her inmates company, and won’t have to worry about their visitors.

buffin

My GP used to work in one of the big maternity hospitals and advised me to save my money as public care is excellent.

Would you consider trying to do the domino scheme? You tend to see the same midwife each time so you get that continuity of care you wanted. The only downside would be less scans, but you could easily arrange these yourself in a private clinic for not too much money compared with private overall.