"In relation to emergency care, the other ED's should deal with these just like regional hospitals from Letterkenny to Cork do. When the child needs specialised care they transfer to the tertiary centre."
Can you amplify, please. Becky? Does this mean what I think it means?
I'm getting a little confused. For example, I see several new private hospitals opened in populated areas. Their advertsing tells a great story. If you want say a Hip Job theirs is the 'in-place' to get treatment. If anything goes wrong and a relatively minor operation starts to go pear-shape, the patient gets transferred to a public hospital. Private hospital charges still obtain, to the patient of course. But, it is the taxpayer takes up the bill for the major part of the hospital stay.
You are joking, right? The costs charged to private health insurance companies for private beds in public hospitals is nothing near the full economic cost of those beds. The fees paid by consumers for private health insurance are subsidised by tax relief. The development of private health clinics is subsided by further special tax reliefs.The public system does not subsidise private health care.
The public system most certainly DOES subsidise private health care.
You are joking, right? The costs charged to private health insurance companies for private beds in public hospitals is nothing near the full economic cost of those beds. The fees paid by consumers for private health insurance are subsidised by tax relief. The development of private health clinics is subsided by further special tax reliefs.
The public system most certainly DOES subsidise private health care.
It is absolutly NOT right that they get to skip queues based on their income. If they want private healthcare, then by all means let them pay the true price for that healthcare. If they want to stay in the public system, then the state will pay their medical costs, on the same basis as other patients.The very same people who are paying for the private are the same who are paying the bulk of the countries PRSI/Health Levy income. It is only right they shoud have at least some of their medical costs paid by their taxes.
Please don't talk about the income for public hospitals unless you look at the costs associated with that income. It doesn't generate anything for them, except additional costs.That might have been true in previous years but the costs of private care in public hospitals has risen dramatically in recent times. It may not yet reflect the 'true economic cost' but there is little doubt that treating private patients is a useful source of income for stretched hospitals hence the inequality in the system. Without private insurance money coming into the system, the cost of the health service would rocket hence my assertion that private insurance money subsidises the Health System because it keeps thousands of people out of the 'free' public health system. If people with private health insurance decided not to take out cover, they would all be accessing the public system where nothing towards the economic cost of care is paid.