Occupational Disease Medical Care Refund

[Firehead]

Just wondering if anyone of you has ever made a claim for a refund of medical care costs associated with an occupational disease as specified in Dept. of Social Welfare list of prescribed occupational diseases. Basically my other half recently had a minor surgical procedure carried out for a physical problem which would have been caused by the type of work he has been doing on an ongoing basis, it's a relatively minor problem but the medical costs would come in at approx 500 euro (he doesn't have private medical insurance). Just wondering if he submits the claim for a refund of the medical costs will the Dept. of Social Welfare contact his employer to verify the details, his employer is very good to him but my husband doesn't want to draw attention to himself and maybe being seen by employer as "rocking the boat" about the nature of his work.

 

[annet]

Just wondering if anyone of you has ever made a claim for a refund of medical care costs associated with an occupational disease as specified in Dept. of Social Welfare list of prescribed occupational diseases. Basically my other half recently had a minor surgical procedure carried out for a physical problem which would have been caused by the type of work he has been doing on an ongoing basis, it's a relatively minor problem but the medical costs would come in at approx 500 euro (he doesn't have private medical insurance). Just wondering if he submits the claim for a refund of the medical costs will the Dept. of Social Welfare contact his employer to verify the details, his employer is very good to him but my husband doesn't want to draw attention to himself and maybe being seen by employer as "rocking the boat" about the nature of his work.

Section 86 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005 covers the Occupational Injuries Medical Care Scheme. If your partner suffered one of the prescribed illnesses as defined they are entitled to a refund of Medical Care costs. If your partner suffered an injury they should put in the medical care claim as this is workers entitlements provided for under the RSI system. The Department may contact the employer but remember this is your partners statutory entitlement. The employers concern may be that a claim may be made by your partner to the Injuries Board.

If there is any disablement your partner may also be entitled to Disablement Benefit which is a pension payable under the Occupational Injuries System. The pension is calculated on a percentage basis - and assesses the loss in faculty suffered taking account of the current physical or mental condition when compared to the pre-accident state and a person of the same age and sex.

The Medical Care costs that can be re-claimed for occupational injuries are;

Full refund of GP fees
Full refund of all pharmaceutical or appliances
Full refund of treatment not covered under the Health Acts - which includes private treatment only if this is not available or made available under the public system.
Full refund of travel to and from the place of treatment. This is usually calculated as mileage, public transport, taxi fees or car parking fees. This would be visits to GP or consultants.
Any A&E charges and inpatient charges incurred under the public system.

 

[Firehead]

Thanks for the information Annet, I will print the forms from welfare website, just recently discovered that this refund is available, I would think it is something alot of people are unaware of.

 

[annet]

Thanks for the information Annet, I will print the forms from welfare website, just recently discovered that this refund is available, I would think it is something alot of people are unaware of.

DSFA accounts over the last number of years show that the scheme has had low levels of expenditure over the last couple of years less than €400 per annum.... which doesnt make much sense when compared to the HSA stats for occupational injuries. There is either an information deficit on general entitlements or something else going on.