# major price hike



## kim (2 Sep 2009)

I am appalled, my health insurance has gone up 108 euro this year, is this not a massive price hike in times of a recession?


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## bluemac (2 Sep 2009)

I am happy to be wrong on this but why pay for private health.

As I understand it unless you pay for the best private policy all you get is the jump the waiting list ahead of the less fortunate people for non serious operations, operations that are needed seem to be done quickly anyway.

on public you only pay the first 500 of any work needed in any one year so for a family of 4 its a maximum of 2000 a year


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## gipimann (2 Sep 2009)

The government introduced a levy this year for non-VHI customers, which, if I recall was about 153 euro per customer.   It may not have been passed on in full, but would explain a large increase.


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## Paulsgirl (2 Sep 2009)

Myself and my husbands has gone up by €374 this year!

I've spoken to a few people recently that are attending the public section of the hospital I'm attending and they have been waiting months for an operation I got in 2 weeks and they don't have the same choice of great doctors that private patients do.  

Its sickening its gone up so much this year though.


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## NovaFlare77 (3 Sep 2009)

Paulsgirl said:


> Myself and my husbands has gone up by €374 this year!
> 
> I've spoken to a few people recently that are attending the public section of the hospital I'm attending and they have been waiting months for an operation I got in 2 weeks and they don't have the same choice of great doctors that private patients do.
> 
> Its sickening its gone up so much this year though.


 
If those people have been waiting more than three months for an operation, they should get onto the National Treatment Purchase Fund (www.ntpf.ie). The NTPF was set up to arrange procedures in private hospitals for public patients waiting more than three months.

As for the increase in health insurance, I agree. I think the Government Health Insurance Levy will do more harm than good (to our pockets at least), but that's a different arguement for a different thread. However, check the Health Insurance Authority's website for comparisons. [broken link removed]will bring you directly to the comparison home page on their website. Their comparisons only cover the main benefits, but at least it gives you a place to start from.


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