I know the Galway issue has been exacerbated by the closure of Roscommon A+E. Unfortunately @tazdedubās description above is commonplace.
Sorry to hear that. Its fucking shocking. The misses was in a&e in the Lourdes Drogheda a few months ago and it is like mash in there. Leo is gone very quiet lately too keeping the head down, the cunt.
Listen to the news idiot box. Heās all over it today announcing a new serial health strategy.
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Todayā¦ Before he was health minister he had opinion on everything
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Sexual health, I assume you mean. Announced with Ray Darcy and some chap in a yellow tracksuit, playing a ukulele. The symbolism was beyond me. Maybe Darcy was meant to be a prick, but I couldnāt figure out the other fellow.
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You just said heād gone very quiet. I heard him on two channels driving today. Anyway, he was mouthy enough launching free gp care for kids too.
Auto correct and misspelling fucked me there Fagan. Although a cereal health policy is long overdue in this country.
Sorry to hear that Taz, hope heās mending well. Ridiculous you werenāt allowed to stay with him, itās outrageous really.
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Best of luck to your auld fella, sincerely. I hate anything to do with health setbacks/poor healthcare facilities/hospitals. Just bury my head in the sand but have been very blessed so far to have encountered minimal of this stuff thank god. Good luck to ye.
@mickee321 is right VHI is your only man if you can afford it. Iām spending ā¬1200 a year on it for myself only, but for the peace of mind while i can afford it i think it is worth it. My uncle is spending circa ā¬5000 for himself, his wife and his son. Fuck me but that is some whack of money for an average sort of bloke to spend on healthcare before he does anything else, before he buys a tin of beans for the house, for the privilege of a bit of peace of mind if things go wrong and someone in the family has a health scare. And then you have knackers getting 5 bed houses for nothing, driving '15 cars and not doing a days work for it. For ā¬5000 a year he is entitled to go to the top of the queue before someone not paying it as far as iām concerned. I know enough people out there with horror stories in the health system. If you have money buy VHI, if you donāt have money unfortunately you will have to wait your turn and thatās the way it is. Wrong on both counts.
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The vhi doesnāt help when ya have to go to a&e though. Itās great for getting up the list on other things that your doctor refers you to a consultant for. The thing is though that the hospital will charge the vhi through the nose for treating you even if you have sat in a chair for 12 hours and another few hours on a trolley.
yeah but VHI swiftcare clinic or a place like the beacon is a hell of a lot better than say AE in a public hospitalā¦
the real VHI win is if u ever needed a surgery or something like that, ud be in and out in a few weeks, going public it could be 18 months ( thatās from a personal experience in 2011, id imagine its worse now)
Does VHI cover entitle you to the A&E in the Beacon? Or does it just subsidise it? @Gman - you might know either?
it does for us anyway
in tallaght in teh kids there is a 100 quid charge for AE w/o a letter from a doctor, thatās not much good as usually AE is an emergency. i suppose i might keep down needless admissions
u can get the 100 quid back on a med 1 or form 11 if like me uve to pay income tax
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yeah we were referred that time by GP and another hospital. There was a ā¬50 waiver charge on the insurance for the operation. Better than the couple of grand it would have been without insurance anyway! Not with VHI either.
Med1 just worth 20% I think, that applies to all medical, drug bills
Depends on your plan. Mater Private and Blackrock have A&E too.
From my experience this year I wouldnāt ever go without health insurance. The actual plan isnāt hugely important but skipping the queue for a consultant or surgery makes a world of difference. Once you get diagnosed and scheduled itās all the same but you could be months waiting for the first part and months matter. If I was a public patient Iād be in big big trouble.
The health insurance industry is frustrating and deliberately confusing. Comparing plans is next to impossible. You find ridiculous anomalies. Iām not covered in some institutions for anything but Iāve saved over a grand by having an Aviva policy for my specific needs that Iād be paying myself every year for years if I was with anyone else no matter how expensive the plan. And yet, a different condition or a different type of scan and Iād be cursing why I wasnāt with VHI. But thatās all just frustrating and nowhere near as important as having insurance in the first place to have those scans and have surgery or treatment scheduled.
In summary: expensive health insurance to save on potential medical bills and to have coverage in every institution. But cheap health insurance will get you seen early and thatās infinitely more important. Youāll find a way to get treated when you know whatās wrong.
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Winner ratingā¦
Is it like car insurance where youāve lost al your no claims bonus now? Will your premium shoot up next year?
I didnāt have health insurance for about 12 months in 2010 or so and, of course, I did my two discs in that time period. When I got back on VHI, I couldnāt use that for a potential operation. Applied for a consultant appointment in Beaumont through the public system and got one for 16 months later. I couldnāt walk without a pronounced limp for around 3 months at the time and was in constant pain. Fucking third world shit.
Nah, it stays the same. You donāt get penalised for being sick.
First world shit Iād say.