Have doctor fees increased?

Re: GP Fees

Well after going home and getting screwed on
the rentacar at christmas...it was time to go to
GP
One kid got sick ...cost 40 euros for 2mins...medicine
12 euros....
Travelled down the road & the other kid got sick
Cost ..30 euros for 2 mins (different doctor ..smaller town) & another 12-13 for medicine


so overall approx 90 euros for 2 kids sick

I`ve no problem paying for emergencies BUT
when I got on the airplane , I`ve realized that
Ireland is got beyond comprehension

BTW kids are fine but got colds again & it costed
me nothing when I got home

Re: Re: GP Fees

So what medicine did the doc's perscribe for a child's cold?

Re: Re: GP Fees

Hi RainyDay
Wow forgot the name of the medicine
It was Pink and tasted terrible ;->

They were vomiting
It was flu/cold with stomach bug

Visiting the 2 doctors all happened with 2-3 hours ;->
Ooooh what a great day it was

I just want to emphasize something ...I don`t mind
paying but Wow ...what a cost for people living with kids !!

Re: Re: GP Fees

I'd have given the 2nd kid half of the 1st kids medicine.



-Rd

you can't do that

You don't know for sure that the two children suffer from the same condition! Symptoms may be the same to the untrained person, but could be from totally different causes. Think about the symptons for meningitis.

My mother-in-law had a bit of a turn one day and took her husband's medicine as she thought it was for the same sort of symptons she had, and she ended up in hospital quite ill.

You cannot take any chances with a child. That's why there are a lot of families in Ireland where the mothers of young children never go to the doctor for their own problems; whatever money is available for medical costs is spent purely on the children.

Re: you can't do that

I guess my smilie didn't get accross the humour in my suggestion.

Maybe this would have been better:

-Rd

Re: GP Fees

Frank asked:

Do we have many medical malpractice lawyers here in Ireland.

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That question is now very hard to answer given that us lawyers are now so restricted in promoting our particular skills, specialties and services. How would it be if doctors could only promote themselves as a doctor rather than as a surgeon, a gynaecologist, a neurologist, etc. Greater transparency whether that be in respect of prices, services offered, quality standards and other matters of concern to customers should be introduced in respect of all the professions including medicine and law. Then the public may have a real choice.

oops!

Apologies, Dalronr, I thought you were serious!

Bubbles

GP Fees

Hi Dalton
I got it first time

sad thing is :
that they were the same medicine with same dosage

but of course I can`t take a risk between a baby
and a toddler

Restricted entry

The Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) controls the number of doctors that can train vocationally as GP's. You need your vocational training to get a medical list. The candidates are selected by interview so the old boy/old girl network it alive and will.
This means that they can control entry into the GP industry, it is a long time since my leaving cert economics but as far as I remember if you can control supply or demand you can generate supernormal profits. I know a GP in Kildare who charges E30 per surgery visit. On extra charge for follow up visits/ collection of blood tests etc. I asked him why he didn't charge more, he said he earns over 200k p.a. the way it is, he's not a greedy ba%$£*d! (in his own words).
The problem is that doctors, like all professionals, need independent regulation. Can you imagine if the taxi drivers had, upon deregulation, said "We will set up a council of taxi drivers to set and police the standards within our profession, and don't worry we won't be self serving".
They would have been laughed out of it!
Are we the public being told that professionals are a better sort than the rest of us and so are not as subject to independent scrutiny?
I know lots of lawyers and doctors, many in my own family, and they are no better or worse that the rest of us. Why are they treated as if they were?

Re: Restricted entry

"We will set up a council of taxi drivers to set and police the standards within our profession, and don't worry we won't be self serving".

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This is precisely the argument that journalists (the same people who preach the mantra of accountability for everyone else) have made in the past 6 months to resist the introduction of Press Council to enforce standards. Bet you won't read that in the newspapers...

Re.Press Council

Absolutely! Journalism is one of the most heavily unionized bodies in the country.
The big picture is that we have a system of "professional" groups that goes back to the era when it was acceptable for members of the gentry to engage in only certain forms of employment and so a distinction had to be made between them and the riff-raff. They could not be taxed or supervised as if they were commoners. They were gentlemen and their honor was above reproach, so how dare some little civil servant, who actually had to work for a living, inquire after a gentleman's business. They had to restrict entry in case the "wrong sort" got in. They had to self regulate in case one of their members wouldn't play the game. Hence we have the professions.
I am not saying it is like this now but the notion that a kid from Finglas who gets through college and has the smarts has the same chance of becoming a consultant, or managing partner in a firm of solicitors, as the kid who's parents are in the same game or went to the right school is laughable!

When those in the game can control who and how many the new players will be, they control the game.
High prices all around the the doctors are only trotting after the lawyers!
This is a republic, all equal under the law etc, isn't it time to run the professions for the benefit of the consumer rather than the enrichment of the professional?

Re: Re.Press Council

Hi purple,

Although I agree more or less with what you say, its also worth noting that increased regulation normally drives consumer prices upwards, due to increased bureaucracy and costs. It certainly has done so in my own field of accountancy (an "open" profession no barriers to entry for most types of work) with in the past 5-10 years.

Regulation

Hi Tommie, I do take your point on regulation but surely there is a cost at the moment for self regulation?
Could the membership fees that are currently payed not be used to fund independent regulation? I know that it's not the panacea but it's a start.
I would have thought that increases in insurance costs, due to a large extent to legal costs, have had a greater impact on your fees in the last few years.
As for your profession, I have found that I can shop around for an accountant and get pretty good value. The cost of tax returns for my wife (a GP of all things!) and our meager investment properties varying by over E1200 from one accountant to another.
So you guys are will down my "things to rant about" list.

Re: Regulation

Purple said

I would have thought that increases in insurance costs, due to a large extent to legal costs, have had a greater impact on your fees in the last few years.

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This view about legal costs arises because of the most effective propaganda of the insurance industry. I am a solicitor and over the past 6 years I have noticed only reductions in legal costs and reductions in the value of awards/settlements. These are significant reductions in the order of at least 30% in the last 2 years alone. The hike in insurance costs is more about the profiteering of the insurance companies and the lack of competition in that area. Please check your facts before making such a wide assertion.

Re:Tobo

I stand most humbly rebuked.
It's just that I did read that legal costs accounted for 40% of insurance costs here as opposed to 8% in the UK. This stat was also bandied about on the radio so if it's incorrect don't blame us plebes. I know that this could well be down to structures rather than profiteering but it's still a big slice of the cake.
Any attempts to change the structures by the government have been, as far as I have seen, rubbished and resisted by the legal profession without any proposals of their own to achieve the same end.
If insurance companies are profiteering than it reinforces my point about the need for proper regulation as you are saying that it's not the lawyers screwing everyone, it's the insurance companies.

Re: Re:Tobo

Hi Purple

...surely there is a cost at the moment for self regulation? Could the membership fees that are currently payed not be used to fund independent regulation?

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The point is that all systems of regulation, whether self-regulation or independent regulation, cost money. The heavier the regulation, the heavier the fees paid by members to fund the regulatory requirements, and the higher the cost ultimately passed on to customers in charges.

As for your profession, I have found that I can shop around for an accountant and get pretty good value.

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That's good to hear. Unlike other professions with standard scale fees for different work categories, there is strong competition in the accountancy market.