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MC Hammered View Drop Down
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    Posted: 22 Jun 2017 at 12:25pm
Sorry if this has been done but I can't see a thread. 

I've had private health cover through my previous employers for years. Anyway I moved job a few months back and the new company doesn't offer it as part of my compensation package. I rang an insurer Aviva a minute ago and asked about getting set up. Apparently, the fact that my last cover ended over 13 weeks ago and I've been uninsured since counts against me. Fair enough. However, two things bothered me. 
1) If I develop an illness (non pre existing), my cover won't kick in for 6 months after I take out the policy.

2) While they were qualifying me for a quote they kept asking would I like private or public cover in various scenarios. This perplexed me a bit. I'm speaking to a fookin private insurance company so why would they be charging me for public cover? In that case, why would I bother with private insurance at all? 

I've been insured all my life but I'm thinking of not bothering now. So if I don't go private, what happens if:

a) I get hit by a bus and need emergency care?
b) I have an ailment that needs hospital treatment but is not major?
c) I get hit by a bus abroad? Do I get hit with a mega bill depending on the country I'm in? 




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bob Hoskins Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Jun 2017 at 12:39pm
Have only had private inusrance for a year or two, as I needed a hernia operation, which as a result I delayed for well over a year. 

Then went to the doctor and he set up the operation, which as it happened was public anyway. So it was a waste doing that, plus any time I coughed I'd a jack in the box in my sack - for an extra year and half. 

I take out travel insurance for the year though, which for Europe only is about €24
Romario 2016: And the ticket mafia gets caught! Well, four years ago I had already told the government.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shedite Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Jun 2017 at 1:57pm
Originally posted by MC Hammered MC Hammered wrote:

I've had private health cover through my previous employers for years. Anyway I moved job a few months back and the new company doesn't offer it as part of my compensation package. I rang an insurer Aviva a minute ago and asked about getting set up. 
Aviva left the game over a year ago, it was probably Irish Life you were talking to?

Originally posted by MC Hammered MC Hammered wrote:

I've been insured all my life but I'm thinking of not bothering now. So if I don't go private, what happens if:

a) I get hit by a bus and need emergency care?
b) I have an ailment that needs hospital treatment but is not major?
c) I get hit by a bus abroad? Do I get hit with a mega bill depending on the country I'm in?
A: The keeping you alive treatment will be the same, you will get a bill for the Ambulance (€450) if you don't have cover, and you'll be in a less swanky ward for the recovery. Lot of the recover bills would be covered with insurance. But as far as keeping you alive, the health service will do that.
B: With health insurance you can skip the queue. Public patients go on a seperate queue of which there's about 500,000 on right now. So with insurance, you get sorted in a few weeks/months, without, you could be years. There was a primetime done on this a few months back.
C: Travel insurance would be needed here anyway. Depends on the country. In America you could be looking at €100,000 plus! Health insurance wouldn't have too much of a bearing. Probably just the recovery when you get home.

I'm still undecided if health insurance is worth it or not (and I work in the industry). You're really paying for the peace of mind of option B above. Without insurance you could be living in pain for a few years.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MC Hammered Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Jun 2017 at 2:27pm

Yes Shedite, you're dead right actually it was Irish Life Health I was on to. 

Cheers for the info lads. I got a quote for circa €1k per year. So it's about 85 snots a month. I always just assumed that I should have private health insurance but I'm defo questioning the wisdom now. I'm very much 50/50 at the moment. 


Edited by MC Hammered - 22 Jun 2017 at 2:28pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SuperDave84 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Jun 2017 at 2:29pm
If you're under 35, there's little enough point. Sign up the day before your 35th birthday on the cheapest plan and you'll avoid lifetime community rating. If you get worried when you get older, then sign up for a more expensive plan then: they can't screw you on price at that stage, even if you've only had a base level plan until then. Afaik, they can't load your plan at all once you have continuous coverage from before 35.

This is different if you have kids of course; I don't know about plans with kids, but presumably you'd want more than the bare minimum plan there.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote daboi89 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Jun 2017 at 3:31pm
On a plan with aviva in the uk with my company that will end on June 30th as I'm moving to an agency as the pay is better than the salary

This year I've had 3 MRI tests and a nerve conduction study test. And 13 physio sessions. I have payed £100 excess for all of this

For the MRI I hadn't even filled out the form and I was called. It was a private clinic and was top draw service. It was a 2 hr MRI from 10 am til 12. They rang me at 3.30 that day with the results. Calculated £2000 minimum for that service . God knows how long with the NHS. Had a NCS then in a public hospital though the insurance. I was sitting down again filling out the form and I was seen. Genuinely bypassed 30 plus in the waiting room. Almost embarrassing it was.


So it your looking for a recommendation . Aviva . They are linked with the Nuffield health group also   

On the other side I was in hospital in April. Went to a and e and didn't give them my healthcare details. Was kept in most of the day but I had a complete check up. X rays. Tests and then further blood tests. So I would have no complaints with the NHS hospital side of things whatsoever

As for dental. There is a student place in south London. That does it for free

So basically you can get fairly decent treatment without the Insurance over here

Edited by daboi89 - 22 Jun 2017 at 3:34pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shedite Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Jun 2017 at 3:51pm
Originally posted by MC Hammered MC Hammered wrote:


Yes Shedite, you're dead right actually it was Irish Life Health I was on to. 

Cheers for the info lads. I got a quote for circa €1k per year. So it's about 85 snots a month. I always just assumed that I should have private health insurance but I'm defo questioning the wisdom now. I'm very much 50/50 at the moment. 
"Private" health insurance just means you've something more than the person that has none. The person who has none will get the "Public Insurance" which is basically the "keep me alive" service you mention.

There's Private hospitals that some health insurances cover. People with nothing wouldn't be allowed go there. For emergencies, both will get the same service, then the guy with nothing will be put in a big low tech ward (or the trollies you hear about). The guy with insurance will likely get a twin room at worst, possibly single depending on how lucky you are. But worst case scenario if there's none available when you get there, you'll end up in the big ward. 

Then in the biggest scandal of the lot, if you go in with insurance and I go in with none, and we both end up in the same ward, you'll be billed €800/night for the ward (to your insurance company) and I'll get billed €80/night (to be paid myself). One of the strangest decisions even made by the goverment a few years back and the main reason out policies have all skyrocketed. In fact, if you go to hospital with insurance, they'll ask you whether you have insurance or not. You should only disclose you have insurance if they can guarantee you a bed in a private room. Otherwise your insurance company is getting billed and it'll come back in your premiums. Also, if you say this, they're more likely to find you a private bed

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bob Hoskins Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Jun 2017 at 3:52pm
There you are Mr Hammer just move to London 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BabbsBalls Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Jun 2017 at 4:51pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MC Hammered Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Jun 2017 at 4:54pm
Originally posted by BabbsBalls BabbsBalls wrote:

The HSF lads. Only gig in town

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote thebronze14 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2017 at 12:47pm
It was a stroke of luck that I had moved to Manchester when I got my cancer diagnosis...They were so quick doing all the tests, the radiotherapy and the op. It was clear for the op that they were seriously overstretched. At home no doubt I would have been waiting ages. Wasn't on private insurance. Even worse if I were liiving in Donegal I would have had to get the bus down 5 times a week for five weeks to Galway or if you're lucky Dublin. Many of the patients are really ill with the effects of chemo...It seems inhumane really doesn't it
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote irishmufc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Aug 2017 at 11:33am
Would 40 odd quid be about right for travel insurance to cover trips to the U.S. and Georgia?

Any particular company that would be one of the cheapest? 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BabbsBalls Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Aug 2017 at 12:12pm
Multitrip are good . I usually get a policy out for the year with them .
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