Sounding off: Ripped off? Stunned by good value? Write, text or blog your experience to us.
While we are frequently exhorted to shop around in search of the best bargains, who would have thought that this bargain-hunting spirit would now have extended as far as the private healthcare sector?
A reader was recently referred for a scan on his lower back to the MRI department at St Vincent's Private Hospital in Dublin. "The MRI department contacted me with a date and I asked them if VHI outpatients cover would pay," he writes. "The woman said I would have to pay the fee of €500 on the day, but I could claim from VHI at the end of my subscription year, but there was an excess on X-rays of €500, so if that was my only X-ray in the subscription year, I would not receive any refund."
He was then told that the Blackrock Clinic - not far from St Vincent's - had an arrangement with the VHI which allowed the clinic to bill the insurance company directly and there was no excess, "so it would cost me nothing". He phoned the VHI, which confirmed this, so he went back in to St Vincent's, got a letter of referral without quibble and made an appointment with Blackrock Clinic's MRI department.
We contacted the VHI to find out why there was an excess of €500 on MRI scans done in St Vincent's and none in the Blackrock Clinic, and why the VHI asks people who get scans done in St Vincent's to pay upfront while it is prepared to deal directly with the Blackrock Clinic when it comes to payment.
A VHI Healthcare spokeswoman told PriceWatch there were different categories of cover for outpatient MRI scans in Ireland. The first offers full cover and the provider is paid directly, as is the case in the Blackrock Clinic. In the second category, the cost of the outpatient MRI scan can be covered but an "appropriate excess will apply", and providers are not paid directly by the insurer, as is the case in St Vincent's.
We asked why it felt the need to operate a twin system and were told that there is a directory of outpatient MRI services in which providers are assigned their category. She said the selection process was "based on a number of elements, including quality, value for money and speed of access for our members. All providers have the same opportunity to participate in the tender process." She said the process was necessary "to control costs and keep premiums affordable for our members", and claimed that the process had "already delivered considerable savings and cut the cost of these services by 50 per cent".
She said that VHI Healthcare was unable to pay for the total cost of MRI scans in every centre because "our members' premiums would increase to cover this". She said that VHI healthcare believed €500 was too high a price to pay for a scan and said it paid "around €200 in many centres nationwide. We do not believe we would be acting in our members' best interest if we paid €500 for a scan in one facility when the exact same scan costs €200 in an alternative facility."
Some help in return
Deirdre from Dublin got in touch with us with a good idea. She often gets calls at home from companies with questionnaires on their company and products. It's usually insurance companies, and she always says to them that she would be quite happy to assist if the company gave a donation to charity. "Some companies do this and you get to nominate a charity from a list of five or so. But they are few and far between. I'd love to see more callers look for this before they give free consultations to companies."
