We are in a recession, money is tight but VHI decide to raise prices by 23%

N

NOAH

Registered User
Messages
815
Is this real, 23% incrrease when all around us prices are dropping but then I hear on the radio they pay hundreds to transport people to hospitals where using a taxi would be 200% cheaper.

I despair.


naoh
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

And Quinn increase theirs by 16%

There is no/very little savings to had by "shopping around" in the Irish private healthcare market for a like with like service.
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

The real question is why is medical inflation so high?
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

Anyone think we could do without health insurance?
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

Smashbox said:
Anyone think we could do without health insurance?
Click to expand...
Yes, there is a minority view which has been articulated here in the past that a young fit single male is unlikely to benefit very much from health insurance.
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

Did anyone listen to Liveline. A guy got a bill for 5 days in hospital of 7400 ( roughly ) said he'd pay and not put it through the insurance and he was told the bill would be 4200

Its like getting a car fixed after a crash. Pay yourself and its 1000 BUT through the insurance and its 1500 !!!!

The insurance companies are just paying the bills and not even querying the price !!! As shown by a number of examples on Liveline this afternoon.

No doubt there is a podcast available on the RTE site.
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

Interesting, and definatly worth a thought. I've been with VHI now for about 4 years, never had a claim.
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

The insurance companies are just paying the bills and not even querying the price !!!
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly, therein lies a huge part of the problem IMO.
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

It's not the same as mobile phone insurance at all. There is a maximum to how much you can be 'down' if you need to claim against your mobile phone insurance. There is effectively no such limit regarding the cost of healthcare.

As a fit young male (or female) you could probably save money by not paying VHI & co and saving the money away yourself.

The €10,000 you save over a few years will be poor comfort when you are involved in an accident (or just develop some condition) which results in medium or long term treatment at a cost of several thousands a week or even day. You may not need this cover until you are 67 or something, but you can't know for sure.

A single high-tech and possibly life saving treatment may cost more than your accumulated savings over many years.

Having said all the above, I feel very strongly about the huge increases which have been charged over the last few years for VHI coverage. This is especially so when you hear the stories about over-payment by VHI, even after people have queried the bills. Quite simply, it is nothing short of scandalous that they pay (I think) €250 for a short taxi jorney in Galway. It is things like this (as well as the obvious ones like high tech treatments with huge capital costs to recoup) that are contributing to the increases in premiums. I have never heard reports of VHI refusing to pay a hospital charge after being alerted to an error or over charging. It's pretty hard to justify the change in charge from €7,400 to €4,200 after saying he would pay it himself. Yet the VHI are happy to go along with this normally and pay the extra €3,200.

z
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

Is it not the case though that you'll be treated in hospital whether you've medical insurance or not? In which case the insurance is simply a way of getting treatment more quickly?
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

Yorky said:
I consider it to be as worthwhile as mobile phone insurance and extended warranties.
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ummm a new phone costs €150 with no contract. A broken leg could cost you €50k. Just because insuring one is a bad idea, insuring the other may not be.
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

I pay just under €150 per month to VHI plus an extra €50 for the Health steps. In the four years we've been here we've had one child in hospital for a routine operation and about €400 worth of claims for doctors, dentists etc. I really grudge the expense but it's only the thought of what might happen, especially to the kids, that keeps those policies in place.

I'm going to look at Hibernian, we have other insurances there so there might be a saving to be made.
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

cole said:
Is it not the case though that you'll be treated in hospital whether you've medical insurance or not? In which case the insurance is simply a way of getting treatment more quickly?
Click to expand...

isnt there a 600 euro charge or something like that?
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

cole said:
Is it not the case though that you'll be treated in hospital whether you've medical insurance or not? In which case the insurance is simply a way of getting treatment more quickly?
Click to expand...

Sometimes, it's a bit more serious than that

[broken link removed]
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

cole said:
Is it not the case though that you'll be treated in hospital whether you've medical insurance or not? In which case the insurance is simply a way of getting treatment more quickly?
Click to expand...

Sadly it's not that simple. You go to your GP making loud "Oooowwww" noises. GP checks you out, says they've seen this before and that you need to get treatment X.

You have 3 options -
1) pay nothing, wait for treatment in the public service, and wait, and wait, and wait. Maybe for years. Spouse and others near you invest in ear mufflers and white noise machines to drown out possibly years of "Oooowwww" noises. You become a stoic and learn to put up with a lot of pain and loss of income due to inability to work, but happy in the knowledge that you will get treated eventually.
2) go via VHI or other private insurance scheme. GP rings consultants office, gets next available slot, maybe this week, maybe next month, certainly this year. You pay nothing other than years of accumulated premiums plus what ever VHI doesn't cover.
3) go direct to consultant. As above, GP rings consultants office, gets next available slot . . . you pay whatever the consultant (and hospital and others) charges which could be more or less than your accumulated savings from not paying premiums through the years. You realise how close you were to getting wiped out financially and reckon it might be a good time to hedge your bets and take out insurance.

Of course, option 1 should be a workable one but due to the length of (some) waiting lists many people prefer to cover their bases and go with option 2 and pay insurance premiums for years on end.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again here - the public health system is great in theory and people should be able to rely on it, but the way it is operated doesn't seem to be optimal by a long, long way.

z
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

It would be great if we could organise a mass public withdrawal from private health insurance. That would really make the government think about how to rationalise the health system. After all, health insurance is just another tax at the end of the day, just like all the levies that are popping up around the place. As the money pot empties there will simply be no choice but to concentrate on efficiencies - and nowhere is this more necessary than in our health system.
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

This thread is very interesting - it was a subject I discussed with friends over the weekend. I've had VHI for about two years and have made no claims. I was thinking of saving the monthly premium into a high interest account and then using this if I needed it. And if I didn't need it I would have a lump sum at a future time. And there was general agreement that this was not a ridiculous idea. However, I also enjoy the peace of mind that the insurance brings so I am undecided. With the increases in VHI premiums surely some people are going to cancel their policies, putting further strain on the public system?
 
Re: WE ARE IN A RECESSION MONEY IS TIGHT BUT VHI to raise prices by 23%

why is healthcare so expensive. Who is profiteering from it.

The production cost of a tablet is typically less than 5 cents and this includes the packaging.The tablet is made from talc, sucrose a few chemicals mixed together. Now I know there are R&D costs, clinical trials and FDA approval for the original patent but once a pharma company receives a patent they're covered from any competition for 10 years unless they decide to licence the patent.


So where is the money going. If it's on wages then are our doctors /consultants being paid too much. If it's on medication then who negotiates the price of medication. Is the price of medications being kept artificially high.

Pharma companies need to be challenged to reduce price and be prevented from making massive profits. The doctors that prescribe the drugs from these pharma companies have been known to be taken away on nice all expense paid week long "conferences" to exotic destinations in order to show the benefits of prescribing their products.


The insurance companies need to push back on the hospital but they will not do it until we push back.

There is just so much wrong with our hospitals cost base.

it reeks
 
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