Private medical consultation - €250!!

J

jan

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Got an appointment for a medical consultation - had to go private as those on the public system are not taking on new patients.
its gonna cost me €250 for the 1st consultation - I almost had a heart attack.
I knew it was gonna be expensive - last consultation I had privately was €200 - the one before that was €150. But it just keeps going up and up - my wages are not going up much over the last 20 years thats for sure. I know I didn't train for as long as these consultants but gee - shocking.
I think this is just wrong. Its no wonder there is such a divide in the world.
Any thoughts?
 
It's a lot of money. The cost is influenced by a lot of factors, including the location of the consulting rooms (some of the rents are huge), length of consultation, the specialty, any prep work (e.g. reviewing scans beforehand), tests done on the day in the consulting room (e.g. my aunt got a scan at her private eye appointment recently and cost of scan was included - those machines cost a lot of money to run), number of other staff in the clinic (nurses, technicians, admin), whether this will be a one-off visit, etc.

The lack of price transparency combined with the huge information gap between doctors and patients make it very difficult for patients to properly assess the value and quality of services offered.

It is a shocking system that should have been addressed a long time ago. People scream blue murder over water charges, carbon tax, etc. but there are very few protests about the health system. Private insurance is a rent-seeking enterprise that the state created, doctors and hospitals perpetuate (remember the public hospitals feed off the insurers too), and the public tolerate.
 
Yes, they are expensive but that is the cost you are paying for expertise. A doctor usually gets to the level of consultant about the age of 35. Considering they started that journey at 18, that's a lot of work and study to get there and they charge accordingly. If they have a huge demand for patients (a consultant client of mine is taking 2023 appointments at the moment), they charge more. It is no different to anyone else. Look at the price of builders and tradesmen at the moment. Look at the price of accommodation in Ireland over the summer. Supply and demand.
 
arbitron said:
The lack of price transparency combined with the huge information gap between doctors and patients make it very difficult for patients to properly assess the value and quality of services offered.
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Irish courts seem to think that consultants should be able to perfectly prevent every negative outcome and that all failings should involve millions in payouts.

So insurance is also a huge cost depending on the specialty.
 
jan said:
Got an appointment for a medical consultation - had to go private as those on the public system are not taking on new patients.
its gonna cost me €250 for the 1st consultation - I almost had a heart attack.
I knew it was gonna be expensive - last consultation I had privately was €200 - the one before that was €150. But it just keeps going up and up - my wages are not going up much over the last 20 years thats for sure. I know I didn't train for as long as these consultants but gee - shocking.
I think this is just wrong. Its no wonder there is such a divide in the world.
Any thoughts?
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As you were thinking of going public you most likely don't have health insurance but lots of policies these days include 50% cover for consultant visits in their day to day expenses.
 
thanks for all your replies.. I didn't know I would get that much via tax back - so thanks for that - I do have private health insurance, so I can get €80 back. Notwithstanding all reasons outlined above, who could I make a complaint to? I still feel its outrageous.. the consultation will probably take about 20 mins going from previous experiences.. I just feel I should lodge my disapproval to someone... we Irish have a history of moaning but not being pro active - I think that should change..
 
Private consultants are free to charge what they want - the same as every other business in the country.

The main way to keep prices low is via competition - if their is a shortage of X, so that X can charge a high price, that will attract more people to become X and so force prices lower. Works in all walks of life - eg supermarket prices reduced when Aldi & Lidl arrived, taxis when Uber arrived

Of course, if you are an X, the best thing to do is to prevent other people becoming an X - by restricting entry by whatever means possible eg licensing, appealing against planning laws, having over-restrictive rules, limiting training entries, lobbying for laws to restrict entry

X's can always form an association with published public goals such as sharing knowledge but with a hidden agenda of keeping prices high - this is illegal but very difficult to prove in reality.

So, in short, there is no one to complain to :mad:
 
Just to point out the consultant will be paying top rate tax on this income i.e 52% including the top rate of USC (self employed income), assuming they are also working in a public hospital. They will have to pay medical indemnity cover which could be around 30 K per annum, depending on their speciality ( the amount is more than that in many specialties e.g obstetrics). They will also have to pay their own secretary and the cost of their rooms, rent, heat, light, equipment etc. That means the consultant is likely taking home less than 100. Do you expect them to earn less than that after all of the training, exams, research, travelling/living abroad, on call etc that they have done to become experts in their speciality?. You should get back whatever your health insurance will cover plus 20% of fee via the med 1 form so that brings down the cost considerably.
 
My son lives in Dublin 14 and his (very good) wooden electronic gate won't close automatically. Tried his best to do it himself as he's "handy" but nothing doing. Phones the company that installed it for the previous owners, explains his problem and they tell him a guy will call out to see what's wrong. Next day and near the time that was arranged the guy has a look, about 5 mins and explains the problem and that a part will have to be ordered, rings office for price and duly writes out an estimate for everything @€375.00 including his call out fee which was €150.00. Yes, he paid it that weekend when the job was done. My point being, the consultation fee was €150.00. Plumbers are around €75 call out fee, mechanics are similar and we won't mention washing machine, fridge, dishwasher, repair men/women.
Then again, what does a leak cost?
 
Healthcare costs are very high in Ireland, they are out of line.

A GP in France charges 25 approx.

We pay GPs 25+25+10 = 60 for vaccinations.

The NHS pays GBP 12.58 + 12.58 = approx 30 euro.
 
You can't complain about this. You want to skip the queue, so you pay for it. Like you said, you'll get money back from health insurance and tax relief.
You might complain to the Govt about public waiting lists, which is where the supply or demand issue comes into it. New entrant consultants have been on lower pay than their colleagues since austerity measures. It is very hard to attract them to fill all the vacant posts as a result. If you don't have a consultant, you don't have extra outpatient clinics.
Like another commenter said, all professionals have a fee and that's life.
The fact that they may dispense their knowledge in 5 mins is irrelevant, as it is expert knowledge, gained by many years of hard graft. I'd feel much more confident if a consultant took a few minutes to diagnose me than an hour hemming and hawing over it.
 
This worries me from an inflation point of view all the same. My last consultant (within the last 2 years) was always 180 and was that price for a few years. If the bar is now 250 then it is a significant increase regardless of insurance or tax relief.
 
Gerryobrien said:
You can't complain about this. You want to skip the queue, so you pay for it. Like you said, you'll get money back from health insurance and tax relief.
You might complain to the Govt about public waiting lists, which is where the supply or demand issue comes into it. New entrant consultants have been on lower pay than their colleagues since austerity measures. It is very hard to attract them to fill all the vacant posts as a result. If you don't have a consultant, you don't have extra outpatient clinics.
Like another commenter said, all professionals have a fee and that's life.
The fact that they may dispense their knowledge in 5 mins is irrelevant, as it is expert knowledge, gained by many years of hard graft. I'd feel much more confident if a consultant took a few minutes to diagnose me than an hour hemming and hawing over it.
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I had no choice but to go private as all public lists either had a 3 yr waiting period or weren't taking on new patients!
But you made a good point - I could complain to the Govt about the public waiting lists.. or even lack of....
Thanks again for all your replies.. still think its wrong - if we had a better health care system, we would not have this situation
 
elcato said:
This worries me from an inflation point of view all the same. My last consultant (within the last 2 years) was always 180 and was that price for a few years. If the bar is now 250 then it is a significant increase regardless of insurance or tax relief.
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Thats exactly the point I was making initially - my private appointments have been ranging from 150 - to 250 in the space of about 5 years.. my wages have certainly not increased to that extent over the same period. Different rates of inflation - no comparison - yet we all live in the same country - its v unfair and wrong no matter how its justified!
 
elcato said:
This worries me from an inflation point of view all the same. My last consultant (within the last 2 years) was always 180 and was that price for a few years. If the bar is now 250 then it is a significant increase regardless of insurance or tax relief.
Click to expand...

jan said:
Thats exactly the point I was making initially - my private appointments have been ranging from 150 - to 250 in the space of about 5 years.. my wages have certainly not increased to that extent over the same period. Different rates of inflation - no comparison - yet we all live in the same country - its v unfair and wrong no matter how its justified!
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Initial appointments are generally €250 and follow-on are in/around €180.00.
 
tomdublin said:
Yes but the public paid for your education.
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It didn’t really. The cost was covered many times over by taxes.

And the State now takes 52-55% of every incremental €250 from every high-earner.

Joe Public does very well from high earners.
 
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