Brendan,
That large excess on your policy doesn't apply to any public hospital, only private or hi-tech hospitals.
So, if you were admitted to a public hospital, and asked to sign a public waiver form which allows the public hospital to charge 813 per night,
you can decide to either go in as a public patient(don't sign the form) or use your health insurance(sign the form) or say I will sign the form when
I get a private room.
Leabharlanna,
Yes, the health insurance providers will cover the 80 euro cost per night if you don't sign the form.
I'm not sure what way it works in practise, as far as I know when you receive the bill from the hospital you can pass it onto
your provider.
Its a personal choice to sign or not to sign and its easier said than done when you're in an A + E dept under all kinds of pressure.
There's all kinds of stories about people being hassled and bullied to sign the form and even receiving the form in the post after leaving
hospital. The CEOs have raised this with the Minister for Health recently, to try sort it out in some shape or form.
But the providers will definitely pay the 80 per night bill, its in their total interest, keeping their costs down.
Snowyb