Health Insurance Insurance for kids - what's the point?

shweeney

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If they have to go into hospital it will be Crumlin, Tallaght or Temple St where they will be treated as public patients, so the hospital cover is literally useless for them. At what point can they be treated in an adult hospital? Is there any benefit to having them insured so they have continuity of cover when they eventually move onto an adult policy?

So what about other benefits? The cheaper plans (such as the plans VHI currently have at half-price) have high excesses and minimal out-patient cover. You get some money back for consultants fees, but you'd have to make several visits in a year to start to see any benefit; reducing the excess increases the premium significantly so the same applies to the better plans.

Laya have "emergency dental" cover but this only applies to treatment within 5 days of the "emergency" so presumably isn't going to cover crowns implants etc.

I'm struggling to see a situation where health insurance makes sense for kids. Has anyone got any examples?
 
I'm struggling to see a situation where health insurance makes sense for kids. Has anyone got any examples?
My youngest child spent eight days in Tallaght (Children's) Hospital about a year or so ago. Because we had health insurance (cheap half-price kids policy) we had a private room with two beds and an en-suite shower and toilet. My wife stayed for the duration. Without insurance we'd have been in a pokey room across the corridor, wife sleeping in a chair, no toilet or shower. Perhaps ten years ago now one of my kids saw a consultant privately and had an elective procedure carried out which we would have been waiting about two years for publicly. Another child had was referred by a dentist to a dental surgery to have a supernumerary removed, this was covered by a very basic policy (as it was technically surgery rather than dentistry).
 
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We're not all in Dublin :) If I had a child that had to go into hospital locally it would be the Bons Secours private hospital which does treat children. Now obviously for something serious they might have to go to Dublin but other stuff that would see you years maybe on the public waiting list can be dealt with in the private hospitals.
 
Because we had health insurance (cheap half-price kids policy) we had a private room with two beds and an en-suite shower and toilet.

Hi Micheal

All the other threads on this issue say that health insurance does not get kids any different rooms, just that they get non-essential operations done quicker. I suspect, that you got this room, because your child was going to be in hospital for 8 days. If it was for just 2 days, you would not have got that room, even if you had insurance.
 
Grommets get a mention in a few posts as something which kids need.

But an operation seems to cost between €1,500 to €3,000. If you know your child will need them, then maybe take out insurance. Otherwise, put the premium into a savings account and pay for the health expenses out of your own pocket.

If your child develops a long term illness, take out medical insurance then. You will be covered after a five year waiting period.
 
I suspect, that you got this room, because your child was going to be in hospital for 8 days. If it was for just 2 days, you would not have got that room, even if you had insurance.
Perhaps you're right; I can't recall anyone being more than three or four days in the pokey rooms. For a number of years now I've had the kids on half-price policies (one year they were covered for free) and with VHI I get six covered for the price of three. For me the low per-child premium is worth it even if only to be sure we can get elective surgery promptly if required.
 
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Have to say I'm totally confused about this. We have private insurance, but went public because were advised it was it was quicker to get treatment. There was no difference in accommodation, as the child was moved to were there was space, nothing else. Then were billed on the private insurance, because I assume we had it. (this was before this became official practise). Every-time I queried it with the hospital they gave a different reason for charging the insurance. Really felt they were making itup. Our insurance was billed because we had it, simple as. Gave up in the end. Child still attends public a few times a year. I guess the only thing its saving is a private consult fee each time we go.

A different hospital charged for another treatments, and when queried they agreed it was a public, and didn't charge the insurance.

We've also had the experience of an adult not being able to get private accommodation due to space limitations regardless of their plan, or seriousness of condition.

So it all seems very hit and miss.
 
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The other issue is that a child might have a non life threatening condition that could end up waiting a long time on a public list. But that might be a very debilitating at the same time. In which case you might want to have access to a faster treatment if possible. Health insurance though is becoming unaffordable, and poor value for money for many. The heath insurers don't inspire confidence that you are getting value for money anyway.
 
The other issue is that a child might have a non life threatening condition that could end up waiting a long time on a public list. But that might be a very debilitating at the same time. In which case you might want to have access to a faster treatment if possible.

but can someone actually give an example of where their child was able to jump the public queue and health insurance picked up the tab. Most elective treatments these days are carried out as out-patient, and the cheap child policies have very little out-patient coverage and high excesses. You can jump the queue by paying consultants privately anyway.
 
We did when we got some other very minor procedure (not grommets) done on a child's ear. Wanted it done before they started school.

Only the hospital could tell you how far it would jump you. If you can get a straight answer you can believe from them.
 
As Brendan mentioned we just our daughters grommets done within 2 weeks. I'm led to believe but don't know for sure that there was at least a 6 month wait on public.

Also we had a private room for the few hours we were there and where treated before public patients. That could be luck but that's what we experienced.

As people have said the real benefit is the speed at which you get elective surgery.
Rather than wait 6 , 9 , 12 whether months you get seen within weeks
 
As Brendan mentioned we just our daughters grommets done within 2 weeks. I'm led to believe but don't know for sure that there was at least a 6 month wait on public.

Same as that. 1 of our kids had to get grommets in last year (they fell out twice subsequently). About a 6 month waiting list we were told but as soon as the OH said we'd insurance and gave over her details, we were seen to within 2 weeks
 
The waiting times for children seem very low

http://www.ntpf.ie/home/PDF/ChildAdult Waiting Times.pdf


3 - 6 months : 716
6 -9: 321
9-12: 169
12 months+ 50
Total: 1,256 for the whole country!

We have no idea how serious these operations and procedures are. I suspect that at least some of them could be paid for privately.

441 are waiting for the Children's Hospital in Crumlin, so maybe they are the more serious cases?

47 of those are for the Eye & Ear, so they must be the grommets.

Compared with 22,000 adults waiting over 3 months.

Brendan
 
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My youngest child spent eight days in Tallaght (Children's) Hospital about a year or so ago. Because we had health insurance (cheap half-price kids policy) we had a private room with two beds and an en-suite shower and toilet. My wife stayed for the duration. Without insurance we'd have been in a pokey room across the corridor, wife sleeping in a chair, no toilet or shower. Perhaps ten years ago now one of my kids saw a consultant privately and had an elective procedure carried out which we would have been waiting about two years for publicly. Another child had was referred by a dentist to a dental surgery to have a supernumerary removed, this was covered by a very basic policy (as it was technically surgery rather than dentistry).


had a similar situation in Kilkenny earlier this year. Hospital was quiet at the time so we got the room as we had insurance. However we were told that if an emergency came where that type of room would be best then we would be moved to a ward. We were also told that had we not got insurance we would have got that room given it was quiet as well but if a private patient came in we probably would have been moved.

Where I have found insurance beneficial is for non-hospital treatments such as speech therapy. It really took the financial sting out of the cost of going private v waiting nearly 3 years for a public appointments
 
The waiting times for children seem very low
Is it not the case that you don't get on to the public waiting list until you've seen a consultant publicly, which can be a lengthy wait? Effectively a waiting list to get on the waiting list . . although I'm open to correction on this.
 
Hi Michael

Interesting point. I can't find any definition of waiting lists on the NPTF website. So it's safest to assume that those are waiting times from the time the consultant says that treatment is necessary.

Brendan
 
Here are the waiting times for outpatients in the children's hospitals

Crumlin: 1,363 over 12 months and 11 over 24 months
Temple Street: 1,217 over 12 months; 80 over 2 years; 71 over three years and 5 over 4 years.

90% of those over two years or more are for cardiology.
 
We're not all in Dublin :) If I had a child that had to go into hospital locally it would be the Bons Secours private hospital which does treat children. Now obviously for something serious they might have to go to Dublin but other stuff that would see you years maybe on the public waiting list can be dealt with in the private hospitals.
Just for the record the Bons in Tralee has a pediatric department but the Bons in Cork no longer treats children.
 
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