sick sean,
While it is of no use to you now, there is a facility on the Laya website to check out if a consultant is fully participating or partially participating with Laya and it also shows a list of hospitals(including public,private and hi-tech) each consultant works from.
It may be useful for other readers or for future reference. It comes under the heading 'Members' and you choose 'Hospitals you're covered in' from the drop down menu. Then click on the pink heading entitled 'Consultants, GP and Dentists'. I find if you just type in the surname of the consultant and the county and submit, it works better. A list of say Dr Murphys shows up, from which you can click on your particular consultant. It will state whether they are fully participating or partially participating with Laya and a list of relevant hospitals attached.
Regarding your own consultant, you could make enquiries with the alternative health providers, VHI and Irish Life to see if he/she is fully participating with them. This may be an option worth exploring for your next renewal date. Its a right stickler of a situation to find yourself in
when your preparing for a hospital procedure. Its the last thing you need on your plate, having taken out health insurance to cover these events,
only to find out at the last minute, through no fault of your own, you are not fully covered for something that was fully covered on previous
occasions.
This is the kind of issue that should be brought to the attention of the Central Bank regulator or the Ombudsman. From the point of view of highlighting the lack of notice or information given to existing patients from Laya or the consultant. It is not satisfactory to be landed with a bill out of the blue for something that was always fully covered.
You could query this issue with the Health Insurance Authority to see what light they can throw on it.
I would be wondering also if you found out for example that the consultant was fully participating with VHI and you decided to switch at your
next renewal date, would this be treated as an upgrade in cover and would a 2 year waiting time apply for this consultant. The HIA should be
able to advise you accordingly.
Thanks for highlighting this situation, its an eye opener to say the least.
Snowyb