"Many of the 1.5 million people who pay an average of around €700 each year in health insurance premiums hope that... they will be protected ... The reality is that ... once you enter the system through an A&E unit - which is how around 70 per cent of people are admitted - you are placed in whatever type of bed is available, if there is a bed available".
The story is here on the Times website.
2 comments:
So one possibility is that people don't know what they are paying for when they subscribe to VHI etc.Or maybe they do: the 70% quoted is an average, not a marginal.There are benefits from private insurance and to some extent there is private information: people know whether they are more likely to benefit (moral hazard, adverse selection etc).
Alternatively insurance is actually a form of assurance: it makes you feel good.Hey whats wrong with that?
I discussed this with Peter and one thought was that people might not know what they are paying for. It was a Chatham House Rules chat with Mr.Carney so I can only give you my thought really - which is that an insurance policy may only be good value if its only for consulatant care.
The response from health insurers in the article is that health insurance has a major benefit in that “the waiting list for private consultants is considerably shorter”. It is possible that this is the only benefit but I'm not a health insurance expert.
I think I would feel as good as possible if I knew that I wasn't wasting money on an insurance policy (above and beyond consultant care). On a macro level, its a huge waste issue, as the money could be spent on other things, but I'll let Peter lead the way there, if he so wishes...
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